Faith & Insight: Be still

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

Think with me for a moment, when was the last time you were ‘still?’

‘Still’ meaning no distractions, no television, no smart phone, no Internet, no texting, no Facebook or Instagram, no social media, no phone conversation, no books, nothing... just being still, in a quiet place, alone with God.

Many people pride themselves on their supposed ability to multitask. I see it often… people driving and… eating, texting, talking on the phone, and yes I’ve even seen people reading a book while driving down the highway!

Whether you are an attempted multitasker or not, our lives can be very busy and overflowing with responsibilities and activity. Stillness and solitude, well, we just don’t set aside the time.

Psalm 46 doesn’t say that we should be still, if we have the time… but that we should make time to be still, and focus our thoughts and prayers on God.

Personally, the time I spend in stillness, quietness and solitude with God is my most valuable and rewarding time. As the psalm says, it is a time of knowing God, a time of growing in relationship with him, a time of listening and hearing his still small voice speak into our lives.

If we will develop this pattern of life, we will be in good company, not only in patterns of life we see in the Bible, but we’ll also be in the company of a good and wonderful God.

And when Jesus had sent the multitudes away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Now when evening came, he was alone there. (Matthew 14:23)

Jesus often withdrew to out-of-the-way places and prayed. (Luke 5:16)

Louis J. Locke is the founding pastor of Fountainhead Foursquare Church