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One of the more familiar verses of Scripture is: Be still, and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10). This verse is deceptively simple because it holds for us the real key to successful Christian living.
I noted that you must first get your body to be still—to find a time and place of stillness. But I can get up early, get my body into that still place, and discover that I’m still not still. Now the battle really begins for me. My mind starts moving a mile a minute. It’s easy to lose my concentration on the purpose of this still time. Even though my body is in the right place, I’m not still before God.
To be still before God, I must have that inner focus which centers on God and God alone. I need to come to the place where, for that time, he is my whole universe, and no extraneous or conflicting information is allowed to interfere.
How can I get to the place where I can be truly still before God, completely swallowed up with his presence and his reality, and nothing interferes with it? Frankly, I don’t think it’s easy for any of us, because our three enemies—the world, flesh, and devil—are out to break up this quiet inner stillness. A spiritual war can rage when we sit down to be still before God.
Here are some things I’ve found helpful. First, I begin by praying for inner concentration, claiming the blood of Christ as protection, and putting on the helmet of salvation to keep my mind from wandering.
Singing can also help me be still before the Lord, so at times I sing a hymn or chorus that focuses on God. Try keeping a pad nearby so when your mind starts thinking of things you need to do, you can quickly make a note of it and then return to your meditation time. And simply be prepared to stay with it, no matter how much your mind wanders. Just keep refocusing. Don’t give up.
So, this simple verse that tells us to Be still, and know that I am God requires some strong discipline on our part. We have to make a commitment to it and ask God to give us the strength to be still, both on the outside—stopping the perpetual motion and finding time to be alone with God—and on the inside, focusing our thoughts and minds on him alone.
