This might sound counter intuitive but that’s the point. Stillness is movement in your spiritual life. In fact, you may not realize that stillness is the best thing you could do for your spiritual life. Especially if things feel stagnant.
God got my attention about 10 years ago when he woke me up to the fact that I was headed no where and fast with my spiritual growth and development.
I lacked true depth because I couldn’t be still.
I couldn’t be still because I was afraid of the change that God really needed to do in me. Which brings me to Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
On the flip side, that means, “Be still, and know that I (Adam) am not God.”
I think on the face of it, most of us know that we are not God. But deep down it’s hard admit that we really don’t have control. We want the level control over our “narrative” and destiny and yet, we are out of control so often.
Let’s get into what we mean here about stillness and why it is so important to the Christian walk.
You Can’t Afford To Not Be Still
I’ve been covering a lot of Christian disciplines and practices and what seems to be a theme that binds them all together is this idea of slowing down, being still, and listening.
All of these ideas are postures before God. We are necessarily talking about physical posture, although you might find it helpful to sit and physically be still. We are talking about quieting your mind and heart.
I think of the Psalm 131 when it talks about how we calm our souls like a child is weaned.
Psalm 131:2: “But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.”
Now isn’t that an incredible picture. Weaning is a slow process, but in some respects it’s intentional. It’s a healthy and necessary process for the child’s development. A weaned child is also old enough in how it handles not having it’s mothers milk. It’s calm and confident and not seeking it’s mother because it is now filled not only physically by whole foods, but emotionally as well. The child is no longer seeking its mother for comfort in this sense any more.
Wow! Now, David emphasizes his effort to calm his soul himself. This give me great assurance that I am capable of calming myself.
It is a good thing to seek stillness and calmness but to be empowered to command your soul in this way should be powerful for you.
Even still, you can cry out to God and He will meet you to help calm you soul as you feel turmoil within and struggle to calm yourself in the middle of life’s chaos.
Most times, I struggle to even try to ask God and to wait patiently for His answer. I demand from God when I ought not to because of my stubborn attitude or selfish ways.
Even more so to reflect and spend more time to become self aware of your bent in many of life’s situations.
Our stillness demonstrates to God that we are willing to submit to His sovereign hand.
Stillness Packs a Punch
Stillness is hard to come by when you have SO many responsibilities any given day. As parents this has revealed itself in a whole new way in our lives.
It feels almost impossible unless you break the spacetime continuum and find a way to tap into extra hours each day. It’s hard to get it all in.
I’ve found that this is a matter of evaluating how you spend your time and how you prioritize it.
I’m just as guilty of wasting my precious time on things that are not fulfilling my goals, roles, and responsibilities.
Self awareness is key and a willingness to learn the hard way is crucial to taking steps in the right direction here.
So, making stillness a priority will come when we realize the benefits it brings.
Spiritual Clarity. I talked extensively about cutting out the noise in order to hear God’s voice in another post. Stillness gives us the space to have clarity of mind in our relationship with God.
Inner Peace. This leads to a clean conscious when we have spiritual clarity and we have done “business” with God. When I know I am right with Him and I have done all that He has called me to do in this life with my life. I have peace within.
Renewal. Isiah 40:31 says: Isaiah 40:31
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
We gain strength in our walk through this process of being still and waiting on the Lord.
So why is it hard to be still?
When I think of stillness sometimes I think of asking a toddler to sit still while eating their lunch. It feels impossible!
I think it’s challenging to be still for a couple of reasons.
Our culture promotes busyness. We are driven by societal norms to never slow down. That comes with a world of pressures in and of itself that are guided by the idea of productivity and achieving goals. We are constantly faced with the decision to keep going and never slow down or else we will miss out. FOMO!
We are afraid of the silence. I am waiting for the day we no longer turn on the sound maker for my kids to sleep to because I’m wondering how they will handle the silence that lets every little noise break through. Which brings me to why I think we are afraid of the stillness, because we are afraid of what we will actually hear. In ourselves or from God. Stillness forces us to see what is really there. Like peering into the night sky to see the stars as they come into view and our eyes adjust. We have to be still and widen our eyes to see them.
Fear brings about a world of discomfort that we are forced to face when we are still. This uncomfortable journey is one we must embrace if we anticipate or desire God to work in us in new and expansive ways.
So how do we get still before God?
Know that you will always be working against the push of the busyness of life to get this time. Especially if you’re not use to doing so.
You need to create the routine and space for stillness. Which means you may need to create the margins to do this. Margins in physical space. Margins in your time.
That’s why so many rise early to get in their quiet time. It is often the best time to have stillness before the rush of the work day and loved ones are awake.
Start your time with prayer and talking with God. Maybe some scripture reading. I’ve encouraged clients to just dump their minds into a journal and to just get their first thoughts out and to then pray and offer those thoughts to the Lord.
What’s important is that you understand this is an intentional effort that you must make for yourself and you will always be confronting the demands of life. Don’t let that trigger you. Embrace the challenge as a given and adapt as you have need to adapt.
Be Encouraged. You are not alone.
Many face the challenges of finding the stillness that you need and seek. Don’t be discouraged in your journey for you are among many faithful servants of the Lord who long to be at home with him.
Psalm 62:5: “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him.”
Exodus 14:14: “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Isaiah 30:15: “In quietness and trust is your strength.”
Start today.
Don’t hesitate. Start practicing stillness today. Take small steps at first and build a routine that will feed your soul. If you have religious roots that have led you into a self righteous or religious “box checking” spirit, take the time you need to process and work through those emotional religious challenges.