Be Still and Know That I am God (Psalms 46:10)
What does it mean to be still and know that I am God? I feel that is something that Americans do not know what it means to be still. The western society is always on the go. We tend to pack our lives to the last nanosecond. We jam in appointments back to back, arriving at day’s end exhausted from the intensity of everything that happened that day.
What would happen if we would just slow down? What would our day look like? Would we be board out of our mind or would we be able to be still?
I am beginning to love living in the simplicity of small rural villages. Being able to live simply and using what you have around you, such as buckets of water for showers, bicycles or walking for transportation to go to the market, or even games that don’t require anything but yourself. Life just happens. It is not planned out by the minute or even the hour. One has time to read a book, take a nap, and even go hang out with the neighbors. And to be honest, I am not really missing any of the luxaries from back home.
Although we try to cram our days with all sorts of activities, we must use our time wisely and keep it under our control. Time must be our servant, not our master. We must treasure today, remember the past and not worry about the future.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” If we do the first three things in this verse, God will make our path straight.
“Those of us who are obsessed with our time are people who refuse to acknowledge that our heavenly Father has our future tied to his sturdy cart. It is not going anywhere that he himself does not go. He makes sure that we are safe.
This means we would do ourselves a great favor to “lean not on our own understanding,” as the proverb says. Intellect and knowledge are fine, but they will not secure us over the long haul. God’s ways do not always make sense. The values of the kingdom of God are frequently upside-down.
What the Bible asks of us is simply this: “In all your ways acknowledge him.” Not just on Sunday mornings, not just in formal rituals, but throughout the ordinary days and nights of our lives. … We know that he is directing us, he is in charge, and that is enough. We can breathe deeply and enjoy the journey.” Dr. Wess Stafford
