Stillness

Be Still

Psalm 46:9-11  “He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

If God wants our attention, He does something to attract us and hold us for a while. Usually it’s quite a short while but sometimes longer. As His Word says, He breaks all the weapons so that the wars cannot continue. He holds us still so that we can Know He is God and that He is with us as our divine protector.  There are moments in our lives when God needs not only to grab our attention, but also to hold our attention for a while. I get so involved with whatever I am doing, that He has twice in my life had to stop me in my tracks. Quite literally, too, God has twice stopped me and made me be still before Him for a while.

Why does He make us still? In my limited experience, it has been for either a test He has for us or it has been so that we have to listen to Him – if only because there is little else for it but to listen. From either of these two reasons, we can know absolutely and for certain that God is exactly who He says He is and that He will do exactly as He says He will do. As the scripture says, He makes wars cease - so that the parties can know that He has stopped them and can then stop and listen. Only when we realise the extraordinary powers God has will we stop and say to ourselves, “That was God and if He can stop this entire army – just like that – then perhaps we need to acknowledge Him and listen.” That is perhaps when we exalt Him among nations and in all the earth – when He has caused us to STOP.

Maybe we need a little God-stoppage right now. In this time and on such a day as this.

In my own case, the first occasion was not so much stopping a war in which I was involved but stopping a family war by using me to minister to them as individuals and as a family. All that from a hospital bed in Spain. In the second instance, again He allowed me to go into hospital but this time it was so He could work on ME !! Amazing times both of them. First time to stop a family feud, and second time to bring me a new wife !! No – I am absolutely serious. He broke a pattern in my life and introduced me to my new wife so He could bring both of us into a new season of ministry together.

Perhaps we should start to be still before the Lord a little bit more than we do at present. I just heard of a ministry which started with an invitation to spend a day (10.00 to 15.00) in silence and prayer, followed by lunch and fellowship. The guy printed and distributed some flyers offering “quiet days of prayer and silence”, and on the first day, 12 people turned up – men, women, old, and young. He now has several centres offering this with as many as 50 turning up for each day. Proof, if proof were ever needed, that actually we all appreciate the opportunity to get still, quiet, and alone with God.

My wife and I enjoy periods of silence alone or together. We use them to listen to Him and to work through problems with Him. Perhaps this is something we should all do more often – “Be still and know that I am God.”