Knowing From Stillness

The last few days I have been wrestling with some things that tend to consume my thoughts.  I woke up this morning with those things rattling around in my head.  To be honest, waking up with your mind already somewhat consumed by problems you are tackling is not the most pleasant way to start your day.

Maybe that's how your days start too?  If so, then we both need some help--and some peace.  Wouldn't that be nice?

In the moments that I am willing to actually listen to God He always speaks things that bring life to me.  This time, as my mind was whirling about with the challenges that I am facing He said to me "Be still and know me."  A very common biblical phrase, but for some reason, the Holy Spirit made me really take note of it--to stop and think about what this really means.

One would think that if you want to know something you need to ramp up your activity:  do more research, have more meetings, search more on the internet, read more books, do more experiments.  But God told me to "be still" so that I could know him--another example of his 'upside down Kingdom'!

Being still is not the same as "doing nothing", it really is actively resting; making the choice to stop obsessing over the issues and challenges that genuinely need your attention, and allowing God to be your #1 priority.  I felt that he was asking me to give him my challenges--I thought to myself "well, I haven't been able to find the answers I'm needing on my own, so maybe He will lead through to the place where things will make sense."  Giving Him this pride of place in my heart hasn't yet yielded the answers I'm searching for, but it has brought me peace in the midst of it all--and that's worth a lot!

I believe that God will provide the practical answers I need, but through it all I believe even more that His desire is to allow me to get to really know him.  I think He understands that when my heart is still, and when I am looking toward Him, He faithfully teaches me about who He really is.  It is there that life begins to make sense and I receive something that just feels right.

Knowing from stillness. . .yeah, I suppose in some ways that doesn't make a lot of sense, but the kind of knowing that is really important maybe can't come to us any other way. . . .

What a journey!

BT