I believe most people would recognize Psalm 46:10 if they heard it. "Be still and know that I am God". I was recently thinking on this verse and wondered, "What does it mean to be still?"
It seems that this is an important concept because 1 Kings 19:12 says that God speaks to us in a still small voice. I know what a small voice is, but what does it mean to speak in a still voice? I thought that perhaps a still voice can only be heard in a still medium. Like the way that still water can only be seen if there is an absence of waves. Perhaps a still voice can only be heard if we are also still.
I don't think that stillness is something that can be put on like new shoes or a smile. I do not think it is an unresponsive stoniness towards life, but a recognition that we are not our circumstances.
2 Chronicles 20:17 says to me that stillness is not a dull-witted inaction, but a stillness of perception. That is, being able to see things rightly and respond rightly to them.
I picture stillness like an ocean. Many people live in a boat on the surface of life, and every wave of stress, contention, and trouble tosses them about. But if a person were to travel deep into the ocean, there is place below the mightiest hurricane which is still. I guess the closer we are to that place (spiritually speaking) the more likely we are to hear the still, small voice we seek.
The point though is that it is easy to find stillness when everything is going your way. When things are not going your way in life, what do YOU do to find stillness?
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on Dec 17, 2008
at 12:39 PM
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