Be Still!

Life gets busy. There are a thousand voices. A phone call, a doctor's appointment, the garbage needs taken out, children are fighting, husband/wife, TV blaring, chores, outdoors. There are so many things calling for our attention. Our mind races. No wonder we feel overwhelmed, drained, tired. 

God calls us to "Be Still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). Why does He tell us to be still, and what does that have to do with Knowing God? Perhaps it is in our stillness that we can actually hear God speak. Our attention has to be undivided and other voices have to be silenced. In the stillness and the quiet, away from all the other voices, we can hear His voice and feel His Presence. Maybe if we slow down, filter out all the other noise, sit still, and just listen. But we become uncomfortable in the quiet. We turn on music, or television, or play a video. We flip open the phone and check mesages, facebook, or play games. 

STOP!

TIME OUT!

BE STILL!

It has to be intentional. We have to listen to God alone. Drown out everything else. Take a break from life to hear it's Author speak. He is able to bring peace to chaotic lives and raw emotions. Our spirits can find rest and peace in His presence. "He will quiet you with His love and rejoice over you with singing" (Zephaniah 3:17). 

Gratuitous Beauty

Some television shows are very violent; more violent than necessary. They show violence for violence sake. Marketing is usually the reason behind it. Violence sells. Therefore, gratuitous violence is a way to boost sales. It is an advertising gimmick. God has done something similar with beauty. He has gratuitously adorned this world with beauty. It advertises His goodness. It is not necessary beauty. It is not essential to the creation itself. Beauty is a bonus.
Flowers are an example of gratuitous beauty. There is a great variety of colors, shapes, sizes and textures. Aromas range from sweet to pungent, strong to subtle. Beauty resides in a snowflake, a feather, a tree, and rocks (Genesis 2:9; Job 38:22; Hosea 14:5-6; Matthew 6:28-29; Luke12:27).
The abundant display of beauty advertises the glory and majesty of God (1 Chronicles 29:11; Psalm 19:1-2). We can see his very attributes from the beauty of His creation, including His divine nature and eternal power. If we look at the gratuitous beauty around us, we have no excuse for not recognizing God. (Romans 1:20).
God has not left himself without a witness. He has surrounded us with beauty to marvel at, to contemplate and appreciate the kind of God who creates such things. A God of blessing and beauty. The next time you look at a flower; the delicate texture, the fragile petal, the vibrant color, and smell the aroma, let all of your senses take in the beauty and reflect on the glory of the one who scatters such things throughout our lives. Beautiful world. Breathtaking God (Job 42:1-3; Colossians 1:16-17).

learning a Lesson

Some lessons are easier to learn than others. To learn from another’s mistake is a better path to take than to go through the trouble of making your own. More often than not though, we have to learn lessons the hard way. Also, lessons learned the hard way usually involve swallowing your pride mixed with a good dose of humility.

A teachable spirit can take correction, and does not stiffen in the face of reproof (Proverbs 9:8, 15:12). Those who are prideful and refuse correction fail to learn (Proverbs 5:12-14), but those who can swallow their pride can benefit from reproof. It seems their is a direct correlation between pride and stupidity, and humility and wisdom (Proverbs 12:1).

The Bible speaks of discipline as a blessing; even a mark of God’s love (Job 5:17; Proverbs 3:11-12; Hebrews 12:5-11; Revelation 3:19). Scripture reproves us for our good (2 Timothy 4:2; Titus 2:15). In fact, the very essence of conversion involves repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10). We have to humble ourselves before God. Only then can he lift us up (James 4:10; 1 Peter 5:6).

Though it is no fun, we should be grateful for discipline. It means that God is working on us for our good (Hebrews 12:11). If we reject God’s discipline we fail to benefit from it. We are not willing to be corrected, and fail to learn our lesson. To continue down that path is disaster (1 Corinthians 11:32). We can be glad that God is a patient teacher. May we be humble and teachable under his hand. As good students, may we learn our lessons well.

Eyes and Ears

 Sometimes we hear with eagerness, and other times we hear   reluctantly. Our eyes may be open but fail to see. The tendency is to hear what we want to hear, and to see what want or expect to see. Something can be right in front of us and we can't see it.

Our eyes and ears are constantly bombarded with information, and we are forced to be selective in how we process that information. Selective sight and sound reception is nothing new. Communication between husbands and wives, parents and children, falls short due to selective reception. A man may become accustomed to tuning out the voice of his wife. Children hear parents when it suits them, but no longer hear when it becomes inconvenient or undesirable. We tune out noisy kids to focus in on a conversation. We may, at one and the same time, see and mentally reject what we see.

Men have often responded to God with selective hearing. God charges Israel with tuning Him out (Isa. 42:20). Jesus asks the disciples why they have eyes but cannot see, and ears, that do not hear (Mk. 8:17-18). The Apostle Paul charges the Judaizers of his day with having a spirit of stupor (Rom. 11:8). Men have often tuned out God. We do well to learn from their mistakes. The writer of Hebrews warns us that we will suffer dire consequences if we repeat their mistake (Heb. 3:7-11). May we have not hardened hearts, but humble hearts, that we may truly see God's truth, and eagerly hear God's Word to us.