Be still! Psalm 46

I think some of us are afraid to be still—to be isolated— to be alone.   We are afraid that being still means that we are not involved in meaningful work, and that somehow diminishes our worth before God and the world.  Or we are afraid that being still means we are truly alone, abandoned, left behind.

But God commands us to be still, and to know that He is God.

Now and then I practice the spiritual discipline of “doing nothing”.  It’s a way to remind myself that I am worthy of God’s love even when I am not producing anything.  I have worth simple because I am a child of God.  He created me to be in relationship with Him and with others, and that is not dependent on anything I do.  After all— are we human doings or human beings?

The one who needs God to be a refuge, or to provide strength must admit to herself that she is not strong, or self-sufficient, or able to be on her own.  She needs God, who is “in the midst of her” so that she will not be moved.

The main point in realizing that we need God is to realize we are not alone.  We are not isolated, ever—not when we are confined to our homes, not when we can’t see other people, or touch them, or have meals with them.  We are never alone.

And because we are never alone, we do not need to fear.  Fear is the most primal emotion.  It’s why a newborn baby cries.  For most of us, fear is the first emotion we experience when we enter the world.  Much of survival as a newborn depends on recognizing fear and acting on it, like crying when we are hungry or wet or cold.  This initial feeling of fear may be why every one of us experiences the sensation of abandonment sometime in our lives.  We remember those first moments, before our mothers soothed us, held us and fed us, and it’s not a pleasant memory.

When Pentecost brought the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the new Church of Jesus Christ was born, there was no fear, no sense of abandonment.  Those who were there that day recognized that their world had changed forever, and thousands came streaming into the Kingdom of God.  Now, two thousand years later, we are born into the kingdom, filled with the Holy Spirit— the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Peace—and know what it is like for the first time to not be alone.

Think back to that time in your life when you first felt the presence of God in your heart.  Maybe He was so subtle that you don’t remember the exact moment, but you know He is there.  Maybe you don’t feel that He is there, but that does’t mean He isn’t. It might just be that your spiritual ears need tuning.  

And if you are sure that He is not there….well, He really wants to be.  He doesn’t want you to be alone.  Just invite Him in— He’s waiting for the opportunity.

So… if God is truly in your heart and you are truly not alone, then what is there to fear in being still?  

A wise friend said that the difference between being in isolation (a lonely place) and being in solitude (a spiritual discipline) is the presence of God.  God is always present with us and in us.  So let’s practice the presence of God, wake up to His holy presence in our hearts.  

Practicing the presence of God takes exactly that— practice.  It takes tuning our hearts to His.  It takes getting comfortable with being silent before Him so we can listen.  It takes reminding ourselves to pay attention, to wake up to His presence on an ongoing basis.

Monasteries build this into their day by “praying the hours”—going to chapel several times a day when they meet to pray together.  

Other ways to remember to wake up to God’s presence might include setting a reminder on your watch or your phone.  It might mean praying as you begin each new task throughout the day, every time you get in or out of the car, enter or exit a building.  Pretty soon, like Brother Lawrence who had some of his greatest  times with God while he peeled the monastery’s potatoes or washed the dishes, we begin to find a rhythm in the day, and the feeling that God is truly with us as we move about the house.  He is as close, or closer, than the beating of our own hearts, the rise and fall of our own breath.

Be still and know that I am God.  You are never alone, He says.  Never.

Psalm 46

1  God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

2  Therefore we will not fear,

Even though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3  Though its waters roar and be troubled,

Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah

4  There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,

The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.

5  God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;

God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.

6  The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;

He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

7  The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

8  Come, behold the works of the Lord,

Who has made desolations in the earth.

9  He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;

He burns the chariot in the fire.

10  Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

11  The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah