A Church with a Heart for our Community

May 24th Wednesday

Greetings to you in the name of the Risen Savior – Jesus Christ! May his grace and peace rest on you this day….this day that the Lord has made for us, so let us rejoice and be glad in it! It is a delight to feel the warmth of the sun and to see the many shades of green as creation wakes up from winter’s rest. I trust that you are able to get outside, go for a walk or a drive and simply enjoy.

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a good friend and fellow adventurer in faith. We shared a few thoughts about a Bible verse that is one of our congregation’s favorite ones to quote, Psalm 46:10 – “Be still and know that I am God.” I think we have looked at that verse from several translations and/or paraphrases looking for fresh insights. Now, I thought we had gleaned all we could, but God loves to surprise you! So, what a pleasant treat to find a few more thoughts.

“Be still” is derived from a Latin term – ‘vacate’, and yes, it carries forward to ‘vacation’ – so, the call to pray anytime, anywhere is this: take a vacation. And the implication is to stop plying God with your life, release control, and restore the intended order. Therefore to ‘be still’ is to enter a quiet space where God who has been relegated to the edges of our life is now given opportunity to return to the center where He so rightly belongs.

Another interesting approach is to understand that ‘being still’ reflects the character of Jesus – one who was intentional but interruptible. There is a word for that kind of stillness…poustinia, a Russian word meaning the solitary way and people who accepted this were called – poustiniki, a word that means “being with everyone”. The followers of this would live in intentional stillness but never lock their doors because someone might need of them. To make a long story shorter ‘being still’ became defined as being “unhurried” – intentional and interruptible. Therefore ‘being still’ starts in isolation and ends with ‘being with everybody’…interesting!

So, lets reconstruct the verse…Be still – unhurried, stop moving-stop talking-be present and quiet before God – and let him recreate and recalibrate you to be ready to express God’s love to those around you – to see, to know, to welcome them. Be still – lay down your burden, let go of anxiety, take a vacation for your soul. Oddly enough this leads into the balance of the verse which we don’t often speak about – exalting God among the nations and on earth. Being still – unhurried leads us to the reality of God’s presence.

Now, I think that is enough to ponder today.