Still

​“Be still and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!” – Psalm 46:10
 
There is so much noise.
So much noise in our world today.
So much noise in my own mind and heart and soul.
 
I long for peace.
 
Maybe you do too. Maybe you’re like me and just want to turn off the noise of racism and viruses and shouting voices of dissension and hate and destruction.
 
“Be still…”
 
Our Creator summons us. He calls to us. Not in the loudness, not in the chaos, not in the fear that threatens to consume our world.
Our Creator whispers to us.
Can you hear Him?
Are you listening?
 
As I have journeyed into the historic Church, one of the things I find so glaringly is a lack of noise. The great saints of our tradition, great minds of Christian thought and the Church Fathers all seemed to have some things in common.
One thing I noticed that they all seem to have in common is quiet; a quiet heart and mind, kneeling before God our Maker to listen. There is a contemplative depth to their writings and prayers and liturgy and thought that we seem to lack today…even in the Church. As I’ve thought about why that is, I really think it’s a lack of stillness.
 
I wonder…are we afraid of stillness? Are we afraid of what we’ll find when we come before God and sit in silence and wait for His voice, His Word to us? What will we find?
 
“…and know…”
 
There is so much that seems uncertain in our lives, our homes, our world. The world seems to be shifting on some spiritual and sociologically tectonic plates constantly. Nothing seems solid. Nothing seems certain.
In this time of uncertainty, God calls us to know. He tells us that there is a Rock in our ever-shifting world. There is a Cornerstone. Truth exists and it stands unbroken before and after all time.
Know.
 
“…that I am God.”
 
It seems like everything these days is up for grabs…including identity. We take our identity cues from what we see on TV, social media, the mass media, our friends. So-called gender fluidity and racism and all of it threatens to overwhelm us and we don’t even know who we are anymore. Don’t think for one instance that our great enemy, Satan, isn’t behind all of this. But, in the midst of all our identity crisis, we can know one thing for certain.
One thing that has never changed and will never change.
One thing that has stood before all time and will stand when time as we know it passes away.
 
God is.
He is and always was and always will be.
He is the great I AM.
He is YHWH, the unnamed One.
 
His identity has never changed. He remains unchanged. Oh, what comfort that brings me! I pray it brings you comfort as well!
 
I just want you to know that God is and always has been and always will be.
And He desperately loves you. He loves you so much that He was willing to become incarnate, to become His own creation so that He could remake you and me and us into a new creation.
 
One fit for a perfect relationship with Him for all time.
 
Did you hear me?
You who are tired and weary and trying to block out the noise…God loves you.
 
Be still before Him…His peace will come.
 
Know that there is Truth. That truth has a name. His name is Jesus, Yeshua, the Son of the Living God, begotten of the Father before all time; God from God, Light from Light.
 
He is God alone.
He is the One who has redeemed you.
He is the One who has come for you…because He loves you.
He is the One who is and was and always will be.
 
Rest in Him.
 
Do you hear Him?