Psalm 46:10 (NIV) He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

One of the hardest things for us as human beings to do is to be still. It has gotten worse over the years with so much media being thrust at us and with our constant drive to stay connected at all times. There used to be a time when if you wanted to be uninterrupted because you were having an important time with your family or friends, you could take the phone off the hook. Most young people don’t even know what that refers to. In today’s world, we are connected twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and three hundred and sixty-five days a year. We have instant news about everything, even when it’s not important, as when some celebrity has changed his or her diet or has something to say about the state of affairs in this country. We gobble it all up and search for more news. No wonder we live in a time where roughly sixty percent of American adults suffer from daily stress and anxiety.

As believers, we don’t fare much better. Many Christians think that the more activity that they are involved in, the more spiritually healthy they will become. That is definitely not the case. We all go at life too hard and too fast without taking a breath and quieting ourselves so that we can get direction from the Lord. Even when we do pray about something, we ask the Lord for His will and then we forge ahead with what we think we should do. No wonder the Lord commands us to be still. It’s because He knows that we will not be still on our own. And when we get really stubborn about it, He makes it so that we have to be still. Sometimes, you will find yourself on your back from some injury or ailment at the busiest time in your life. You think to yourself, “I have no time right now to be sick and laying in bed. I have things that I have to do for the Lord.” But there is nothing that you can do about it and it is then that you learn that all of your fretful activity is really not necessary. The world doesn’t fall apart because you are flat on your back. Whatever you were involved in, even if it was ministry, continues to move forward without you because it must, if it is something that God has ordained.

These are the times when you learn that it is God who sets up good things in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10) and that it is He who empowers us to do it. He allows us to partner with Him but what we do depends totally on Him and not on us. We are reminded that the one thing that is needed is what Martha, Mary’s sister, found out when Jesus visited their house. She was running around like a chicken without a head preparing things while Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to Him. When Martha complained to Jesus about Mary not helping her, Jesus told her that what Mary had chosen was better (Luke 10:38-42). Let’s not wait until the Lord has to put us on our backs because we refuse to still ourselves before Him. Let’s be still and know that He is God. That is what will be good for you and me and for everyone else around us.

Pastor Joey Vazquez