Be Still!

As a kid, I often heard one or both of my parents tell me in no uncertain tone, “Be still!” It was almost impossible and I often paid the price for not doing what I was told. I was in perpetual motion unless I was sleeping. That’s O.K. when you’re a kid, but it can cause problems when you become an adult if you don’t grow out of it.

And most of us don’t grow out of it. We live in a go—go—go world, but the more we go the farther behind we seem to get. All kind of things bid for our time, attention, and money. All those gadgets that were hailed as time saving tools have instead created an endless work cycle that never seems to end. We work—work—work with unlimited projects on impossible deadlines and then come home and shift into gear for the second or third shift. And—time passes quickly and before we know it, years and decades have passed and we never take the time to be still.

We never get still and as a result we rarely hear God’s gentle voice as he speaks to us with direction, encouragement, or to admonish. We are either coming or going and his voice often becomes garbled and indiscernible in the jet fumes of our frenzied pace. Our inability to hear God on a regular basis only creates a more chaotic life. We are convinced we can have it all—but we can’t.

We all have our limit. And believe it or not you will run out of gas at some point, usually at the worst possible moment. Stress will undo everything you have tried so hard to do with your hectic pace and it will kill you long before you accomplish everything on your limitless to-do list. At some point you will crash and burn.

What would happen if you were to hit pause as you hurtle toward the earth like a flaming meteor? What would happen if you were to get still and quiet for an extended period of time? What if for the first time in your long or short life you shut the door, pulled the shades, turned off your cell phone, TV, and radio, took a deep breath, and invited God to join you? What would happen indeed?

One thing for certain is God would show up. But…unless you be still you will never know!