Ready to 'join up'

Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world. (Psalm 46:10)

I have a hard time being 'still'. It is as though there has to be some 'activity' going on, even if it is thought. I spend a good deal of time thinking on things, then I usually take action after learning what I can from thinking on the subject. I think about what is for dinner, plan a menu in my head, and then execute the preparation of the meal. I think on my next woodworking project, plan the tools I will use, bits and blades needed, any finishes I will utilize, and the types of woods I will incorporate into it. Then I execute the steps to see what I envisioned created. It is never wrong to just 'be still' - for in the stillness, we often 'hear' much clearer and 'plan' much better than we do without all that thought!

To 'be still', one might imagine we need to cease all movement, but there can be movement in stillness. I have observed a creek so still that you'd think there was no movement at all, yet the water is stagnant, nor is it really 'still' - it is just moving at a very steady, but 'still' pace. Based on this observation, I might have believed being 'still' meant there was nothing to be heard, but even in the 'stillness' of that little creek, there were things to be heard. Birds sang from the treetops, wind gently moved the leaves above, and an occasional cricket chirp could be heard. Not all 'stillness' means absolute silence - it just may mean we get 'silent' enough to really listen and observe.

I have been watching how horses are tamed. It is amazing to me to see the purpose in making them 'move' around the corral time and time again until they are ready to 'join up'. Maybe being 'still' means we stop resisting. We lay down our reluctance, give up on our 'wild plans', and come close enough to the one who wants that relationship with us. The horse eventually does this - settling down, realizing they can trust the person in the corral with them, and they just 'settle'. Reluctance means we are not willing to be obedient to God's plan yet, so we might just resist 'settling down' into the stillness he asks for because we aren't quite ready to 'join up' with him. 

When we finally get 'still enough' to listen and observe, chances are we will be convicted of any place in our lives where we are a little too 'reluctant' to move into obedience to what God desires for us. This is the moment for action - conviction leading to confession and confession leading to repentance. We lay down our 'wild ways' and 'incessant circling' in order to settle into a trusting relationship with Jesus. The moment of 'joining up' comes when the horse 'stills' and just stands near the one in the corral with him. We cannot 'join up' until we trust fully the one who is asking us to come near to him. How about you? Have you been circling the corral of obedience in your life? Are you finally ready to 'join up'? Is it time to just 'be still' and know that he is God? Just askin!

Be quiet - - - very, very quiet...and hear

What or who do you listen to because you feel you "have to"? For some of us, it is our parents - we listen because we know we are to respect them and to listen to their wisdom. For others of us, it is our supervisors - because they are the ones who guide our days and provide that paycheck at the end of the week. For still others, we listen to no one and nothing, other than our own minds and hearts. How's that one been working out for you? I know it didn't work out for me! My heart and mind doesn't always know what it wants - it can be rather indecisive and vacillate with the ups and downs of what is going on around me. It isn't worth listening to sin tell us what to do - and it isn't worth thinking our own mind will actually always know how we are to respond. We need to be aware of the presence of God in our lives, learning to listen to him FIRST and foremost. Only then will we experience all the glory of the goodness he has prepared for us!

But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master. (Romans 6:23 MSG)

All manner of sin will attempt to tell us what to do - from the voice of a well-meaning 'friend' misguiding us by some 'advice' they have for us, to the outright listening to the appeals of our own fleshly lusts and desires. We don't have to listen to either of them - we can turn a deaf ear to them, politely dismiss them, and move on. We don't have to 'do as we are told' when it comes to listening to sin's voice any longer - because we have discovered what it means to really listen to God's voice. There are times when people ask me how they know they are hearing God's voice in their lives. I'd have to say this - is what you are being told consistent with what scripture reveals about God and his ways? Is what you are being asked to do in alignment with the principles of grace and truth? If not, it isn't God's voice! It is either clearly some other voice, or a mixture of a good message combined with a not so wholesome one!

If we want a 'put together' life - one that is whole and consistent, we need to learn to listen for that consistency in what we are hearing. The consistency of alignment with the principles of grace and truth we find revealed in the Word of God. Some ask what to do when they cannot find a specific example of what they need an answer to in their lives within the explored scriptures. I'd have to say it is then a matter of conscience. God actually gave us that little tool to help us when we don't have any other 'judgment' factor that seems to address the issue. If there is any 'niggling' to do or say something that is against your conscience, it is wrong for you! It isn't the voice you want to follow. Our conscience doesn't 'override' scripture, but it can help us when we don't clearly find the specific issue addressed within scripture.

The good news is that we have a good God tell us how to live. We don't have to be confused about all the other voices in our lives - for his is the clearest, simplest, and quietest! It is quiet because it operates in an atmosphere of peace. Jesus spoke to the brewing storms to be still - only then did the disciples know it was him and receive from him that day. He spoke to the disease that created havoc in lives to be gone - only then did the disease-riddled soul hear the truth in his voice. There are times when Jesus needs us to shut out all the other voices - even when they 'storm' around us. Only then will we truly hear and understand his purposes. Just sayin!

You buzzed?

The other morning, I happened upon a quote that caught my eye, not so much because it was majorly profound, but because it was just a little insightful. Kin Hubbard wrote, "A bee is never as busy as it seems; it's just that it can't buzz any slower." While that may not be labeled 'profound', it is quite revealing of how some of us go through life - buzzing, buzzing, buzzing, all the while appearing very busy, but really doing not much more than buzzing! We have those huge carpenter bees here in Arizona - some black and others kind of orange and black colors. They can come out of nowhere, then 'buzz' all around you incessantly until you wonder if they are eyeing you as a huge piece of wood they could burrow into! All the while, they are menacing, but not very productive in what they are doing!

Light, space, zest—that’s God! So, with him on my side I’m fearless, afraid of no one and nothing. When vandal hordes ride down ready to eat me alive, those bullies and toughs fall flat on their faces. When besieged, I’m calm as a baby. When all hell breaks loose, I’m collected and cool. I’m asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I’ll contemplate his beauty; I’ll study at his feet. That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, the perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic. (Psalm 17:1-5 MSG)

Some of us would do well to recognized we are being besieged by all the hubbub around us, causing us to 'buzz' all the more, but really accomplishing very little with all that buzzing! Hell can rage around us, all the world can be in a 'buzz', but we don't have to be. It is possible for us to live at peace, to be calm in the midst of chaos, and to not just 'buzz' incessantly. Hubbard was also one to remind his readers that some people can look so busy that they actually appear to be indispensable. The truth of the matter is that appearances are one thing - the reality may be something quite different. When my grandsons were young and they first saw those big bees buzzing in my yard, they were noticeably frightened by both their size and their 'buzz'. When I explained they don't sting and they only like wood, they began to tolerate the 'intrusion', but were less concerned by it as time passed.

Sometimes we focus on the intrusions in life rather than on the stuff that really demands our attentiveness and determination. We listen to the buzzing instead of understanding the buzz is nothing more than a byproduct of activity. Not all activity is productive - nor is it necessary - sometimes it is just destructive. The carpenter bees knew where the wood pile was - they didn't have to look elsewhere. They left tell-tale signs to assure me they had plenty to gnaw upon - plenty to occupy their attention! So, why all the buzzing around? Did you know carpenter bees don't actually eat wood? They just destroy it! They burrow so as to have a place to reproduce - not because they are making a home for their colony. They are very isolated - not social at all. The 'buzz' we most often hear evokes a sense of fear in us, but it is usually from the male of the species - the ones that don't sting. The female is capable of stinging, but rarely does because the buzzing of the male makes people fearful of them.

Don't you think for a minute that buzzing is not distracting! The whole purpose of that male carpenter bee buzzing around our heads incessantly is to distract us from the 'gallery' or hole where the female is creating new life. More of that 'new life' that will do little more than create more damage and inflict countless hours of work and fear upon those unfortunate enough to be in their path of buzzing! While carpenter bees are not a really deep spiritual lesson, there are some lessons to take away today. First, not all buzzing deserves our attention. It is often the silence we should concern ourselves with more than the buzzing! Second, buzzing evokes fear in us - it is like chaos turns up the heat in our lives and we begin to buzz a little bit ourselves. As with my grandsons, we want to turn tail and run when we are 'buzzed upon' by those things that do little more than create menacing distractions in our lives. Remember this - many things may menace us, but only one thing calms us - God's presence! Just sayin!

My feelings speak very loudly!

Long ago, at different times and in various ways, God’s voice came to our ancestors through the Hebrew prophets. But in these last days, it has come to us through His Son, the One who has been given dominion over all things and through whom all worlds were made. (Hebrews 1:1-2 VOICE)

You listening? Do you hear him speaking? Is there a tug at your heart unlike any other? Can you see evidence of his words deeply affecting who you are and the choices you make? If the answer to these is yes, you are doing well, but if it is "not really" or "uh uh", then maybe it is time to just stop to consider which voices you are listening to!

I find that the loudest voice I hear at times is not his, but mine! I am whining, just downright complaining about something not going my way, or I am disappointed because I didn't get something I thought I wanted or deserved. Have you ever noticed just how loud the voice of complaint can be? In fact, I'd have to say it is the loudest voice around me, but it shouldn't be the loudest coming from me!

I guess we might register our complaints at such a loud pitch because we think we aren't being heard, or because the frustration behind those complaints is so deeply felt that we cannot help but get a little worked up about what is at the root of them. The truth of the matter is that God is speaking, but as long as we are complaining, his voice is likely going to be the one we don't hear as clearly!

God's voice tends to be "quiet" or "still" - isn't that what scripture declares? Yet, his voice holds the very universe together, creates all that exists, and can produce overwhelming peace in one or two quiet words. Didn't he look into the fearful storm that made the disciples who were a rockin' and rollin' in the ship one night and simply tell it to "be still"? God's voice may simply be hard for us to hear because we focus so much on the storm and so little on the simplicity of God's solution to the storm!

We are drawn to the storm - we even help create some additional chaos in the midst of the storm - lending our own sense of "storming" into the mix. Why? Our feelings are easily escalated. We find ourselves "giving into" those feelings of fear, mistrust, anger, frustration, or disappointment because feelings demand some sort of action - they are hard to ignore!

Instead of focusing on the storm, we might do well to settle our emotions, looking instead to hear not the winds and the waves, but the soft steps of one walking on the water! When feelings give way to escalated emotion, we aren't going to be listening for a "still small voice", nor are we going to think the solution may be as "simple" as Jesus telling the storm to "be still". Just sayin!

Get off the burner!

⁸ People who won't settle down, wandering hither and yon,
   are like restless birds, flitting to and fro. 

(Proverbs 27:8)

We might call this person who absolutely refuses to "settle down" a "restless" individual.  Restless people have a tendency to drive us nuts just because of their constant activity.  We find it unsettling to constantly be in a state of "flux", so we avoid these individuals.  Restless people are in a position of missing the "good stuff" in life because their activity of heart, mind, and body keeps them so busy that they miss the "stuff" that comes by being settled, relaxed, and available.

There are several characteristics of a restless individual - the first being that they just don't enjoy any "ease" in their spirit or heart.  In other words, they are in a position of constantly "redoing" their decisions - reworking the plan.  Do you know that feeling that comes when you finally "settle into" a plan and you begin to see it start working for you?  The peace that produces is quite remarkable.  Unfortunately, restless individuals just never get to that place of "peace" or "ease" in their lives.

Second, the restless individual is in a state of perpetual agitation.  Think of this as being in a pot of boiling water - the higher the temperature rises, the more the "stuff" in the water is agitated.  The same is true of those with a restless character - they just keep "feeling" the heat rising, so they respond with continual activity and agitation.  Agitation is really a state of struggle and inner conflict.  There is much stress created by this agitation - personally and for those around this individual.

Third, the restless spirit actually finds that they cannot rest.  They have an aversion to inactivity.  There is a little "alarm" that sounds when they find their lives coming to a place of rest and the immediate response is to increase the activity!  It is like a hamster on a wheel - as long as it is moving, they are happy, but slow down the wheel and they just don't know what to do with themselves.  The problem here is that God speaks best to us in the quiet times of our lives.  If we are not comfortable being "still", God has little opportunity to speak into our lives!

For a restless soul, there is actually a point where they feel "deprived" when the activity ceases!  It is like they are being starved!  The restless soul actually "feeds" off the activity.  The problem is that their "diet" is unable to bring the nourishment of spirit they earnestly need.  

God reminds us of the benefits of "inactivity" or "peacefulness" in our lives when he allows words to be penned like:

Be still and know that I am God.  (Ps. 46:9)

In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.  (Ps. 4:7-8)

Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.  (Ps. 119:165)

²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  

(John 14:27)

It is only when we recognize the "agitation" of our restlessness that we can fully appreciate the "comfort" of resting in the grace of our Lord.  In the stillness of his care we are enveloped in his rest, freed from our anxiety, settled in our agitation.  Flitting to and fro becomes a thing of the past.  

If we find ourselves so caught up in the activity of the "heat" of life, it might just be time to take the pot off the stove!  Maybe we feel like we lack the ability to do this ourselves - don't worry, Jesus knows!  Maybe we feel like we cannot live without the constant "heat" of life - don't fret, Jesus gives us more than we need to fill our days.  

Be still!  And KNOW - really get to know - your God!  You will be amazed at what you hear and learn in the peacefulness of rest!

I am God!

Be still, and know that I am God...

(Psalm 46:10)

Those three words, "I am God", carry so much meaning.  In those words, God declares that he is our refuge, strength, conqueror, and redeemer.  This is an expression of his love, his might, and his grace.

As our refuge, he is our shelter, or our place of escape.  There are always going to be times when we just need a "safe" place of repose and renewal.  When under attack, we have hopes for a place of covering - that is what God is for us.  When we are without resources of our own, we hope to find a place that will provide what it is that we need - that is the place God prepares for us.

As our strength, he is all that we need in order to endure.  In his wings, we find the provision to endure.  He is the one who gives us the ability to resist the forces that are against us.  As our strength, he is also the one who gives us both our potency and our intensity for life.

As our conqueror, he is the one who removes obstacles that stand in our way.  He has proven by his death, burial and resurrection from the dead that he is indeed the one who is able to master any, and all, opposition.  Whatever it is that is against us - it shall not stand.  He is the ultimate possessor of power, authority and influence over the situations we face.  

I AM GOD is an exhortation to know him and to know him well.  We first come into a place of "knowing" God by believing in him.  When we are fully persuaded of his ability, power and might, we are open to accepting his willingness to do what he says he will do in our lives.  Belief is a place of accepting trustfully that he is who he say he is and being firmly convinced of his goodness.

We come to a place of "knowing" God by yielding to him and learning to serve him.  Surrendering the control of our lives to his able care brings us to a place of understanding his strength, his refuge, and his power.  Service is nothing more than being of use to him - waiting on him to give us the direction about how to live our lives.

The call is to be "still" and know that he is God.  The place of "stillness" is a place of no longer being in motion, being free of the turbulence that rages in our lives.  In the stillness of his presence, we discover that he wants us to be free of the turbulence of our past, the rigors of our present, and the uncertainties of our future.

In the present, he wants us to know he is sufficient.  In our future, he wants us to know that he is working all things together for our good.  As we celebrate his resurrection today, let us remember that his call is to be "still" and know that he is God in our lives.