Stop The World, I'm Getting Off.
An oft-quoted Scripture is Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God."
The implication is that in order to truly acknowledge that God is in control, we need to first be still. Yet, how on earth, on this frantic, busy, crazy earth, do we be still? I'm not lookig for a solution, such as "get eight hours of sleep at night" or "eat more protein." I guess I'm looking for a more metaphysical, a deeper kind of answer. A God answer.
Be still actually means "cease striving." What would that look like? Would we know it if we saw it? I've had weeks (ok, years) when I literally never sat down or took a deep breath. Being the Mother of the Year that I am, I have actually used that fact to berate my sweet children. Such as, "I just sat down for the FIRST TIME TODAY...find your own socks!!" Can you relate?
How do we find that core peace? It burns my bacon that the book Eat/Pray/Love is on the best-sellers list and is mentioned in many of my deeper conversations with women. Why does it aggravate me so? Basically, this. The author was given a hefty book contract to go "find" herself for a year. In Italy, her assignment: eat. In India: pray. In Bali: love. She luxuriates in each...and she's paid to do it. Okay, sure, she experiences some angst. Which pasta to order? Which guy to bring home? Poor soul.
Could you cease striving if someone paid you to do it??? We'd kill for the chance. Yet it brings up another, deeper question still. What is payment? I was thinking cash money and I'll bet you were, too. Surely the author of E/P/L wasn't paid in shells.
Yet the Lord of the universe is the Lord of great blessings. Cash isn't always a blessing and in fact, is often a curse. But Peace is a blessing. Wholeness is a blessing. Faith is a blessing.
The t-shirt demands, "Stop the World. I'm getting off." Does that sound good to you? Cease striving....and beg the Lord to show you how to do it. Start with baby steps. Get off that committee that you hate. Sit down with a cup of tea. Wake up with a prayer, go to sleep with another one. Be still. It's your choice.
And let me know how you're doing.
5 comments:
Ok, so today I confessed to the Lord that I am not able to free myself from my sin of gluttony--and I am not JUST talking about my love of Thin Mints--although i consider a serving one sleeve. I mean my gluttonous life-style....my ridiculously large home that I dream of perfectly decorating, my over-packed schedule, my stack of catalogues that I pour over in the hopes that I could one day order everything from. I recognize that the Lord has given me the ability to feel pleasure and I asked him to help me really appreciate some of HIS pleasurable easily overlooked gifts--a cup of frosty cold milk, a blue sky, the sounds of birds, the smile of a healthy child, a welcome embrace. Less cash, more Jesus, please Lord!
I say 2 of your sayings,"Be still and know that I am God" and I sing the song, Stop the world and let me off. Take it off of my shoulders. Say the things you used to say and make the world go away."
I have been in such a dispare in at times with 2 in college and then 2 weddings in 2 years. Finances....Is this way the Lord wanted me to focus my life? I celebrated my children graduating college and am so blessed to see them wed to godly young men.My soul cries out to God that something is amiss. I am always looking for something I can not find. It must be the Holy Spirit prodding me along to focus on something else. I praise Him and love Him. I witness to others about Him. I can not fill the list that some think we must do in order to be complete in Him. Example of pray more, serve more, read more, study more, attend church more....I am at a loss. If you find your peace pass it on.
I have experienced alot about God and his promises over the past few years. I've seen a child die from cancer (my son's best friend) and a close family torn apart from sexual abuse. I've struggled financially with a failed business and watched as my mom grows more and more ill each day, at an early age. I've asked God "why" hundreds of times and He doesn't always tell me why but He continues to bring the sun up each day and to color our world each spring and fall. He provides the basics to me and my family during our financial struggles, which may mean NO VACATION and NO NEW CLOTHES and NO NEW SCRAPBOOKS, but He still give food and shelter. To follow the scripture, "Be still and know that I am God", well, I am still working on that. How can I do this and be still. Usually when I sit still, I fall asleep. HA! I will say that I have learned to say no... I've turned down lots of invitations for committee positions and I don't feel guilty about saying NO to the newest ladies bible study at church. Does this count as "Being still" or just lazy?
Laura Lancaster
I love the point that being still means to cease striving b/c it calls into question "What am I striving toward?" I am just now trying to apply this thought to the stresses and strains of my daily life. It is fascinating as I ponder it...enrolling Justin (7) in after school activities could be MY aspirations of an athletic child, could be striving toward the prize of Vanity. Decorating a house is often me running toward Materialism and (appearance of!) Wealth.
What a clever scheme of the enemy! To have us chase/strive toward the wrong things with all of our energy! It is like telling a child they will be nurtured and satisfied by something poison and then watching them use up all their energy chasing it. What am I chasing this way? What are the poisonous motivations behind my striving?
This is what I think God is begging us to consider! That we don't have to STRIVE for the things of God. They are free gifts. Come to me and I will give you rest. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Cease striving and come hang out with me. SEE THE THINGS YOU STRIVE TOWARD AS WHAT THEY ARE: LIES.
Lord, give me eyes to see what is of you and what is of me. Help me to get free from the motive of pride, acceptance, vanity and live in your peace. SHOW ME b/c I desperately need some REST.
amy
Oh, I love reading your blog! I don't have a regular Bible study right now but your blog makes me get my Bible out and ponder! Thank you.
I LOVE the "Be still..." verse. I read it to my father-in-law as he laid helplessly in Intensive Care for 1 1/2 months.
It also applies to my life and ties so beautifully to Solomons words in Ecclesiastes. It is hard to pick my favorite verse but this sums it up:
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. (Ecc 2:11)
May we all start personal anti-toil campaigns and see how God works in our lives!
Thanks Martie! :) Cheryl Lafferty
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