What Does it Mean When God Tells Us to “Be Still”?
“Fear not, stand firm; the LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be still. ‘Be still, and know that I am God’ ” (Exodus 14:13,14; Psalm 46:10).
What does it mean to “be still” in God’s presence? Is it sitting cross-legged on top of a secluded mountain, with nothing around but rocks and wind and a few bald eagles soaring overhead? Or perhaps it’s kneeling quietly in a darkened pew, the waxed scent past prayers and ancient incense floating around you in peaceful, blessed silence.
Certainly to “be still” in God can mean those things. Yet how often do you visit a hermit-like mountaintop, or even a quiet pew in an empty church?
Not often, most likely — at least, not if you’re anything like me. I wish I could do more of that stuff, but sadly I have bills to pay and people to respond to and deadlines to meet.
Spending time in quiet seclusion, just us and God, is certainly essential to a healthy prayer life (yes, that means no cell phones allowed). However, to “be still” means so much more.
Be still … and trust.
Be still … and have faith.
Be still … and hope.
In God.
To “be still” in God is to allow Him to work His will in our lives — and to have the inner balance to recognize His will, especially when it doesn’t take the form we expected.
To “be still” is to stop force-feeding our own expectations, agendas, and desires into our lives, and instead take a moment to prayerfully reflect and ask God what He wants for us, as well as how He wants us to proceed. Often when we’re faced with something difficult, whether it’s a decision or a situation, we attempt to do battle in whatever way we can. While God obviously doesn’t want us to sit back in inertia and let the tide take us away — hoping something will miraculously happen to rescue us while making no effort to rescue ourselves — we also tend to go to extremes.
And when we go to extremes, we can’t hear that “still small voice” within (1 Kings 19:12), the voice of the Holy Spirit who protects, guides, and enriches us.
The key is balance. We must slow down, and stop worrying so much. We have to stop filling our heads with words, scary scenarios, anxiety, and dread of “what-if.” We have to pray, release our situation into God’s hands, and allow the inner peace of His stillness to wash over and into us.
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt 10:29,31).
When we try to grasp at our own sense of control, and maneuver situations to our own devising, chaos most often ensues. We tend to make our messes even messier. “God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated” (Eccles 7:29).
Be still means not merely to be still in our bodies, or even our minds. To be still in God is a stillness of the heart, deep within the soul. It’s a feeling of peace in the outcome of any given situation, the faith that as long as we place that situation in God’s hands, then all will be well.
At the end of his life, Jesus repeated himself over and over, as if he wanted to drill his message into our heads. With such repetition, we’d be daft to ignore his message.
“Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me … Peace I leave you; my peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid …in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world … Now I am coming to you; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have joy fulfilled in themselves” (John 14:1,27; 16:33; 17:13).
In other words, be still … and know.
Be still and know that all can be well, all shall be well, and all will be well.
