Being Still in an Gotta-Get-Going World

Much as we hate it, sometimes being still is the best thing for us.

When something I read in the Bible or a spiritual passage in a book catches my attention, I usually go, “Hmm.” But when I read the same thought more than once from different sources, I wonder, “Is God trying to tell me something?”

This happened a couple of weeks ago when two devotional readings referred to the same passage on the same day: Psalm 46:10, which says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Sounds simple, right? NOT! Not at all.

Being still isn’t something most of us value these days. We praise busy people, those whose hectic lives practically have them passing themselves on the highway, rushing from one event to the next. The pace of life seems faster all the time, so “being still” seems to make as much sense as hanging from a tree by our toes.

However, it’s apparently something God values. In one of my favorite psalms, King David wrote, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7), and later he restated the same sentiment: “Wait for the Lord and keep his way” (Psalm 37:34).

Being still – and waiting – run counter to our gotta-get-going, have-to-do-it-now culture. Patience isn’t a trait we prize. But sometimes being still is the best way to move forward spiritually.

Imagine having the opportunity to be in the presence of one of history’s legendary people, maybe someone like Steve Jobs, Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr., Florence Nightingale, Mark Twain, or Jackie Robinson. Admittedly, quite a diverse assortment of people – and all dead. But just imagine.

Would you tell them how busy you are and rush off, or would you put everything else on hold so you could enjoy a rare conversation with them? Hopefully glean some of their wisdom? Well, how about an opportunity to stop – be still – and listen to Jesus, arguably the most influential person who’s ever walked the earth?

The world we live in offers us little in the way of peace. Whether it’s the unsettling news that bombards us day after day; deadlines and demands we must deal with in the workplace; stresses in our homes; fears from within and without we wrestle with; or other factors that rattle our mental cages. That’s why God suggests, urges, even commands, “Be still and know that I am God.”

During the stillness and the quiet, we remember, “(God) will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3). In those moments we can practice the admonition to “not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

Do you find yourself often, or even always, in a state of high anxiety? Do you hear the phrase, “peace that transcends all understanding,” and wonder what that means? Maybe it’s time to step on the brakes, exit the high-speed freeway of life for a little while, and just “be still and know that He is God.” It might just change your day. It could even change your entire life!

Trying to Run on Empty

What’s your dream car? A Mercedes, or a BMW? If you’re into sports cars, it might be a Porsche, Jaguar, or Maserati. (I’ve never seen one of those, other than on TV, much less drive one.) Maybe you imagine driving a Rolls Royce. I had a Rolls once – a “rolls-hardly.” My mechanic spent more time with it than I did!

Some time ago a friend and his wife went to a furniture store to buy some things for their home. While they were there, he registered for a drawing the store was having, then forgot all about it when they left. A few weeks later he received a call informing him they had won the grand prize, a new, right out of the showroom Cadillac! I’m not sure if that had been his dream car before, but it proved to be their perfect car for years.

Just as drivers stop periodically to refill the fuel tank
in their cars, we need to stop and "refuel" ourselves.

There’s one common reality, however, about all “perfect cars”: Without gas in the tank, they won’t take you anywhere. You can sit in them and enjoy the new-car smell, fiddle with the buttons, and even move the seats back and forth. But when the fuel gauge is stuck on empty, they transport you nowhere.

The same holds true for us in everyday life. Many of us spend our days running so hard and so fast we practically pass ourselves on the highways. Moms transporting their children from school to one activity after another. Men and women fighting rush hour traffic to get to work, pouring themselves out for eight hours or more, then rushing home again so they can rest – and repeat it all over again the next morning. Families desperately filling their leisure hours in search of fun, wearing themselves out in the process. Then one day we wake up to discover our physical, mental and emotional tanks are sitting on “empty.”

In Europe it’s traditional – at least for those that can afford it – to go on holiday, taking as much as a full month off from the daily grind. Talk about luxury! They might have the right idea, but I often find myself feeling guilty taking one week off from my regular work activities. How could I possible handle taking four weeks off at a time?

Nevertheless the principle remains: Unless we judiciously and intentionally take time for rest and restoration, we’ll be like the beautiful car without a drop of gas in the tank. We might look good on the outside, but we’re never going to get to where we want to go.

No wonder promising employees suddenly lose their luster and cease being the shining corporate stars they once were. No wonder high hopes disintegrate into grim realities. No wonder marriages start to struggle, moving to the brink of failure. And no wonder once healthy individuals suffer sudden and unexpected physical calamities.

So what’s the remedy? If we don’t find it natural to take necessary pauses during the course of the day, the week, and the year, we need to schedule those times. We need to devote time for thinking, planning, and relaxing, as well as basking in our victories rather than bemoaning our inevitable defeats.

The principle of rest and restoration appears repeatedly in the Scriptures. In Psalm 46:10 God instructs His people, “Be still, and know that I am God.” In an earlier passage we’re warned against the tendency to plunge full speed ahead, thinking that perpetual activity will ensure achievement of our goals. It says, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…. Wait for the Lord and keep his way” (Psalm 37:7,34).

The opening of the well-known 23^rd Psalm uses the shepherd-sheep metaphor for affirming the importance of rest, of taking time to refuel our physical, mental, emotional – and spiritual – tanks. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul”  (Psalm 23:1-3).

In the gospels we find Jesus Christ, the Son of God, setting aside time to pause and regroup despite the urgency and brevity of His earthly ministry. “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16). After performing one of His miracles, Jesus dismissed the assembled crowd, sent His disciples ahead of Him and then, “After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray…” (Matthew 14:23).

At the end of the creation account, it states God the Creator found it important to take a break in the action. “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work” (Genesis 2:2). To underscore that concept, one of the Ten Commandments God gave to His people instituted a day for Sabbath rest (Exodus 20:8-11). Unfortunately, today even devoted followers of Jesus tend to treat the Sabbath as just another day for frenetic activities or for catching up on work not yet completed.

God didn’t establish the Sabbath to be restrictive. Rather, like a car manufacturer that knows how best to operate its car, God knows how we function best. And it’s not by burning the proverbial candle at both ends and the middle at the same time. We need to pause, rest, reflect and restore. When we refuse, we do so at our peril.   

No Thrill in Waiting

Waiting for a special event to start, like a charity run supporting
a good cause, is tolerable. But we still want to get on with it.

“Wait!”

In today’s society, wait is among our most-hated words. It doesn’t matter whether we’re in a line at the bank, the grocery store, fast-food restaurant, retail store, the gas pump, or the post office. Especially at the post office! We don’t like waiting. “Time’s a-wasting. My life is starting to pass before my eyes!”

No one has time these days for waiting. No wonder the lurching launch of Obamacare, the Affordable Health Care Act, stirred such frustration. If people are supposed to sign up for it, they certainly don’t like having to wait to do so.

FedEx, the Internet, email, text messaging, even the almost-extinct fax machine, all have come about in part because of our reluctance to wait to communicate.

The adage said, “A watched pot never boils.” Today it is “a watched microwave never beeps.” If we’re online and click on a web link, we don’t want to wait for it to appear. We expect it to leap to our screen instantaneously. If we have to download computer software, we wring our hands as we wait for it to finish. So super-fast connection speeds are essential.

And I hardly need to mention the frustration of having to wait in a traffic jam. We’ve all been there and know it too well. Is it a traffic accident, construction, malfunctioning signal? It doesn’t matter. Just don’t make me wait!

Our capacity for waiting in a line for food,
however, depends on how hungry we are - and
what's next on the agenda.

Because of the ever-escalating pace of life, patience and the capacity for waiting have become lost virtues. TV programming and commercials consist of images rapidly changing every few seconds so we don’t lose interest. Theme parks have special express lines for people who don’t appreciate the thrill of waiting 30 minutes or longer for popular rides.

But the fact is, much of life is devoted to waiting, often for good things: Anticipating a happy event, such as a wedding, the birth of a baby, an important ballgame, a birthday or anniversary, or Christmas. Applying for admission to college and waiting hopefully for a letter of acceptance. Interviewing for a job, then awaiting a call back. Having a medical procedure done, especially for a potentially serious problem, and then waiting for the results. If the wait ends with a good report, we consider it worthwhile.

So is it any surprise that God in the Scriptures often asks us to wait? Over the years, in facing a variety of slow-to-resolve issues both at work and at home, I’ve often meditated on Psalm 37. I found it comforting, reassuring – and troublesome – to read, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…” (verse 7) and “Wait for the Lord and keep his way…” (verse 34).

King David, who wrote many of the psalms, must have spent a lot of time in God’s “waiting room,” since he also penned passages like “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14). When we read something like that, we want to respond, “Yeah, David, that was easy for you to say!”

However, he also made it clear the waiting was not futile, that his trust in the Lord’s timely response was rewarded. That’s why David could write, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand” (Psalm 40:1-2).

Does God have you in His waiting room? Or have you been there recently? I’ve spent much time there myself. Most of the time it’s proved well worth the wait. Is waiting easy? No. Is it fun? Not at all. If we’re willing, when He asks us to “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10), we can be assured He has a good reason for doing so.

Yes, No, Wait . . . Different!

Prayer is a curious thing, but those who believe in God and trust He’s actively involved in our daily lives do pray. The Bible exhorts, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Some people prefer certain postures or places for praying; others spontaneously pray whenever and wherever they feel the notion to do so. Even while driving. Hopefully, with their eyes opened.

It’s encouraging to hear someone say, “I’m praying for you,” even when we don’t fully understand how prayer really works or how those prayers will be answered. Regardless, I prefer that to words like, “I’m sending good thoughts your way.” I guess it’s better than sending bad thoughts. But I’d rather have people praying, even something like, “Lord, please bail out this knucklehead.”

Prayer's perplexing reality is its lack of a predictable cause-and-effect. We pray, but answers might be slow in arriving. I’ve come to realize, however, that’s not bad. Because it requires us to exercise the spiritual muscle called faith, trusting God hears and will answer – even if it's uncertain when or how.

Years ago a friend observed, “We treat God like a short-order cook.” He pointed out often we pray as if we’re placing an order at a restaurant, expecting it to be delivered promptly as specified. That’s not quite how it works. First of all, God isn’t here for us – we’re here for Him. And second, I’ve learned He understands what we think we want is not always what we need. “Father Knows Best,” as the old TV show title stated.

God always answers prayers, but in four different ways. Sometimes He says, “Yes.” We might pray for an ailing loved one and He does restore their health. Sometimes He says, ”No.” For instance, we decide on a house we wish to buy. Someone else’s offer on the house is accepted, however, and we’re forced to keep looking. Later we realize the house we did purchase was better. God already knew that.

One of the hardest answers to prayer is when He says, “Wait.” Many times, especially when facing career issues, I’ve felt frustrated by the admonition of Psalm 37:7, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him….” When a major job change seemed necessary, the last thing I wanted to do was wait. “Come on, Lord. I’m ready to go!” But He chose to make me wait. At times it forced me to be patient, not one of my strong traits. Maybe it was a matter of timing – the right opportunity wasn’t available yet. And sometimes He just wanted me to trust: “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

There’s a fourth way God answers prayer: Different. I remember in late 1980 when my tenure as editor of a community newspaper outside of Houston, Texas was concluding. I’d applied for positions I felt qualified for at several newspapers, but received no responses.

Then I heard about a job opening in Chattanooga, Tenn. The job was different from what I had been seeking. It proved to be exactly what I needed – and wanted. I can’t begin to tell how much my years there meant for me and my family, the opportunities and experiences that I’d never imagined.

So when God answers your prayers, He might say "yes," or "no," or "wait"...or "different."