Why Do We Find It Hard to Be Still and Know that He is God?
Being still in the presence of God is something challenging to many. The Bible tells us to be still and wait on God who fights our battles for us. Many of us, however, find it hard to do that. Why?
Being Still
God commanded us all to be still. He wants us to learn to trust Him and not fret in His presence. He wants us all to silence ourselves and wait on Him, to keep calm and let Him move when our circumstances are dire and chaotic. Simply, God wants us to learn to put our full weight on Him.
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Being still is a challenge for many, however. At times, I myself experience challenges with being still – I find it hard to keep my mouth shut, my eyes at ease, and my mind focused on God. My prayer times are challenging, my Bible reading times not as easy as they sound, and the whole "be still" moment ends up being more like a "trying hard to be still" moment.
If you're like me, or perhaps like many of us who experience something like that, you'll know what it's like to have, think, or feel one or most of these things:
- The feeling of seeing everything in order
Many of us just can't stop for a moment to pray to God simply because we keep thinking that all things have to be in order first. We think about the mess in the kitchen, the clothes that need washing, the clutter in the living room, the kids' sports practice, that bill that needs to be paid etc. We just can't stop fixing things.
- The thought that you need to have everything in control
Many of us can't stand the fact that we're not in control of everything. We're worried about things beyond our power to contain, and end up babbling about such worries to God instead of asking His help and relying on His goodness and capacity to handle everything.
- The uneasiness of simply having to be yourself before God with all your imperfections
Simply put, we feel ashamed of who we are. We feel the need to be active or to be busy so that we could project an image that we're OK, that we're fine. We find validation and security in our activity and achievements, so much that when we haven't done anything we feel like we're unacceptable even to God.
Can you relate to any of that? If you can, let me encourage you: we can be still. God loves us.
A Biblical Lesson
Let's consider Martha, the sister of Mary. When Jesus came to visit them, she became "distracted with much serving" that she didn't get to enjoy the Lord (see Luke 10:40). Unlike her sister, she simply couldn't drop everything and sit down to hear what Jesus had to tell them.
If we are honest enough, many of us feel more like Martha. We have our Bibles but we can't even focus on hearing what God has to say through it. We're distracted with the cares of our lives. Even in church, we're too distracted "loving people" that we forget to love on God by listening to His Word and enjoying His presence as we worship.
The thing is, that many of the things we are worrying about or allowing to distract us are not that important. Even if they are important, they are not more important that time spent with God. They are not more important than having our spirits refreshed in His Word. And many of the things we're fretting about, while they may be important and urgent, they can be taken care of later. Spending even 20 minutes with God is not going to stop them from being done. So we need to keep our worries in perspective. God wants us to have this time. And in having this time, we demonstrate that we trust God with everything else.
So friends, let's all learn to be still. You are allowed to let go of that work, that clutter, that thing that can wait! So just sit down and give God the time, the attention, and the love that He deserves from you. Let's find ourselves in Him, not in the things we can do.
