“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10).
So many things vie for our attention these days. Family, job, houses to clean, church responsibilities, education, meals to cook, bills to pay. Then add the myriad of communications we find ourselves keeping up with – phone calls to answer, emails to respond to, text message pinging, Facebook posts to check, Instagram to check, and Twitter to tweet! The list is long, and it seems never ending. Some days I feel like a dog chasing its tail. I don’t know what is most important anymore or what really needs my attention because so many things are clamoring and ringing and pinging at me all at once.
It seems that gone are the quiet and still times of life. No matter where we find ourselves there is some type of modern sound, some noise, interrupting our thoughts. I am old enough to remember that a walk in the woods meant going out to enjoy the stillness and quiet of nature. Now it seems it means a time of capturing the perfect smile of a selfie to post on Facebook for all the world to see. Heaven forbid if more than two miles of highway go by when our “signal is dropped.”
Yet I was created to be refreshed and renewed in the still and quiet times. Just as the dew refreshes the grass during the quietness and stillness of the night, my quiet times with the Lord refresh and revitalize me. As I sit quietly in His presence, not presenting the very important needs that press on my mind, but rather just resting in His presence, He refreshes my soul and brings a fresh “knowing” to my spirit. I gain a deeper faith as I am still in His presence. My refreshed and renewed mind is able to sort out what is important and what is not. My mind so easily gets off track. I can get derailed with my own to do list. I become like a car that has slid into a snowy bank, spinning its wheels and getting nowhere. Yet just a few still moments in His presence, and my “knowing” becomes deeper and my thoughts become clearer and more focused once again.
Times may have changed, and the world of technology has definitely changed greatly, too. Yet His Word remains – be still and know that I am God. Is it a command or is it an invitation? Perhaps it is both to us today.
By: Pamela Parker
