Be Still...

"Be Still and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10

Since I have been sick, I haven’t kept up with my daily devotionals so much. I have this really amazing devotional called Streams in the Desert. Since it is so amazing, if I miss a day, I go back and do the missed devo while doing the current devo. I am also reading a book by Philip Yancey entitled Prayer: Does it make any difference?. Anyways, today I went back and did the devotional for February 5th (yes, I know it was a couple of days ago, but bear with me).
The main verse was Isaiah 52:12 “Ye shall not go in haste”. In this particular verse, God is letting his people know that they did not have to hurry to Jerusalem because the Jewish exiles were promised a safe return and the Lord would go ahead of them. Anyways, the part underneath the verse is what struck my attention. It says “I do not believe that we have begun to understand the marvelous power there is in stillness, We are in such a hurry-we must be doing-so that we are in danger of not giving God a chance to work." It goes on to say "This is our trouble in regard to our Christian life; we want to do something to be Christians when we need to let Him work in us." Now, I am not talking about not serving in the church, I am talking about, and believe this is talking about, being still enough to let God work in us and through us without us actually "doing" something. There is nothing that we can do on our own that can make us Christians or more Christ like.
In the book by Yancey, he talks about Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God". These are two great commands that we as Christians don't take seriously. Yancey points out that the first command is a habit of attention...Be Still. He goes on to say that the first command prepares you for the second command: "know that I am God;I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
I have come to realize that it is so hard for me to "Be Still". There is always something to do, to see, to be a part of. It is as if I don't want to miss out on what is happening in the world and by doing that I am missing out on what God has for me. I have realized that just as the Isrealites, although the Lord has promised that He has gone before me, I continue to live a life of haste.
I have realized that I have been living a pace of life that makes it hard for me to hear the gentle whisper of the Lord (1 Kings 19:11-13). God is not going to fight for my attention, He is not going to yell and scream until I turn His way, He will nudge me and whisper to me gently, until I make time to listen to what He has to say. I am trying to learn how to balance out this crazy journey we call life, to learn how to Be Still and rest in His loving arms...to let Him do a awork in me.