Be Still

We're not very good at that, are we?  Being still, I mean.  We're too busy in our hustle-bustle lives to be still for very long. 

It's getting harder and harder these days to just be still.  To sit and listen to one another.  To engage in conversation.  To relax.  We're always busy, busy, busy.  And if we're not busy, we're looking for something to do so that we can be busy.

We're usually only still when we're forced into it.  By illness or surgery or some other circumstance.  And then we complain about being still because we would rather be busy!

It's sad really. I'm not at all sure that all this busy-ness is what God designed us for.  Because, especially here in 21st century America, we're so busy being busy, so busy trying to make a living, that we're often too busy for the most important thing. 

We're often too busy for God. 

Seriously.  How much time lately have you spent just thinking about Him?
I'm not talking about asking Him for something......those really quick prayers we rattle off when things aren't going well and we need a little help.

I'm talking about thinking about God Himself.  Thinking about Who He is.  Reflecting on His majesty.  His holiness.  His greatness.  Just thinking about Him.  Pondering.

Ponder.  What does that mean anyway?  Dictionary.com gives this definition for the word ponder:  to consider something deeply and thoroughly.  Isn't that the essence of following hard after God?  (Remember our subject yesterday?)  If we're following hard after God, then are we not deeply and thoroughly and often thinking about Him and His works and His ways. If we are  following hard after God, will we not be making an effort to be still?  To, in the words of the hymn writer, "ponder anew what the Almighty can do"?

By the way, my friend Rg Huff has a wonderful challenging post about this very thing over at his blog.  Check it out at www.hymnlines.blogspot.com/2013_06_01_archive.html.
You'll be glad you did.

In the meantime, why not take some time today to find a quiet place and just be still.  To ponder.  To think deeply.  To get to know God better.

"Be still, and know that I am God."  (Psalm 46:10  KJV)