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). 

Rest For Your Soul

Nature provides many analogies for spiritual truth. Jesus used many examples from nature to teach his disciples. He used the soil to illustrate the principles of receptivity (Matthew 13:3-8). He used wind to illustrate the work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth (John 3:8). He used trees and their fruit to show us that what is in our heart will show in our lives (Luke 6:43-45). The fact that nature and God’s Truth are illustrative of each other should not surprise us, because God is the source of both. The author of creation is the author of salvation.

With this in mind, it seems to me that we can use nature to illustrate the need for rest. Just as God provided a season of rest for nature, so we would be wise to see God’s design for rest in our own lives. Trees and plants have seasons of dormancy, or rest so that when the rest is over, and spring comes, they can burst forth with vitality. When considering the soil, we see that a period of rest is beneficial. God commands that the land be given rest from the demands of productivity for a time to afford it restoration (Lev. 25:4).

In the same way, we were designed to have seasons of refreshing through designated periods of rest (Deut. 5:14). Rest was not only a command to obey, but a needed reprieve to enjoy. It is a needed relief from those things that burden us (Matthew 11:29), and a source of refreshing (Exodus 23:12).If we fail to get the required rest we run the risk of becoming physically and spiritually drained.

The world today is a busy place. So much to do and so little time. Our busyness spills over into our rest. Is it any wonder we are tired? Take a lesson from nature. God created all there is and then ceased from his work. He then commanded a Sabbath Rest for his creation. It  is not that God wants to steal our time and burden us with less time to get our work done. It is that we were created with a need for rest. We ignore it to our own detriment (Isaiah 28:12), but when we turn back to God seek His ways we find rest for our souls (Jeremiah 6:16; Matt. 11:29).