BE STILL

“Be still, and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10

Does anyone know how to be still and silent in today’s world? The world we live in is
filled with noise, distractions, and “busy-ness,” probably like no other time in the world’s
history.

Honestly, when was the last time you sat for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or even 30 minutes
without picking up your phone or listening to music or a podcast or feeling the need to run to
the next activity? I hope it was sometime in the last day when you did your personal devotions with God, but I suspect that many of us even struggle to entertain silence with God.

There is always another podcast to listen to. There is always more music to have playing
in the background or to sing to. There is always another activity to go to or task to accomplish or game to play or show to watch. We fill our lives with and allow our lives to be filled with activity and noise, even to the point where many people don’t know what to do with themselves if it is ever silent or there ever is a break.

None of these things are inherently bad by themselves. In fact, many of the things I’ve
listed can be very good things. But one aspect of our sinful nature is we take good things and use them in the wrong ways or the wrong places or we even turn them into sinful things.

Here are some key questions to consider: Are things like podcasts and music and activities actually growing your relationship with God and growing you as a Christian? Or are they hindering your growth or limiting your time with God? Or, even worse, have they taken
the place of God in your life?

God’s Word tells us to “be still, and know that [he] is God.” (Psalm 46:10)
When was the last time you were still with God? Not scrolling. Not listening to music.
Not looking at or listening to or doing anything. Just still. This is a concept that is so foreign to our hurried, loud, Western lives and many of us are even uncomfortable with silence and
stillness, but I believe it is so crucial to our faith lives as Christians.

So, I challenge you. Start by taking 5 minutes a day for a week and sit in a distraction
free silence with God. No music. No podcasts. No audio books. No phone. No scrolling. Nothing except you and God. And I believe that over time, you will come to appreciate and even yearn for that silent time with the Lord.

In the middle of a hurried and sometimes anxious life, practice being still and knowing
that God is God.

Pastor Tim Kooiman