Wednesday, August 25, 2021

“Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10, New L:iving Translation)

 What I Did On My Summer Vacation.

(A short essay by Dale Soble)

                How I spent my summer vacation: much like I have spent the last same, gosh-darn 18 months or more. Sitting in my big blue recliner chair with my Chromebook on my lap, mostly playing silly computer games. I go out for groceries and run a few errands. There have been a few outings to have much-welcomed re-unions with adult children and some of our young grandchildren and a supper with a good friend, but, by and large, if you looked up the word “still” in the dictionary you might see my picture. The pigeons are hovering.

                But thanks for asking.

                End of essay!

                I really don’t think this is what the Psalmist meant by his vision of stillness.

                Stillness is not mere idleness. It is not laziness. It is not passivity. it is not spiritual inertia.  It is not merely respite from the noise of the world. It is not hiding from the world. It is not mute resignation. It is not blissful ignorance. It is not stunned resignation. It is not submissive hopelessness. It is not surrendering to the inevitabilities that surround us.

                Please note the first verse of this great Psalm and it gives us a clue as to what this stillness really is: “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.” The Psalm goes on to say that no matter what, no matter how bad it seems, though the world seems to be crumbling around us, God awaits for us and is to be found in the very chaos. Hints of Creation’s beginnings echo in the content - new life out of the void and darkness.

                Stillness is the difficult but intentional action of waiting with patience, endurance, resolve, faith, trust and hope that  “the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” (46:7)     

                Stillness is finding the still small voice of God in the tidal wave of voices that want to pull us apart.  But we have to allow ourselves the time, space and opportunity to stop and listen. We have to stop screaming, yelling, talking and respect and allow the sanctuary of place and time to embrace us with the presence of God. Stillness is the bravery to accept that we cannot fix things on our own and the courage to acknowledge our need for God’s Voice in the wildernesses. Stillness is the daring solution to find the strength from God needed for living amid the chaos, the busyness, the complications, the tumults of all which swirls around us.

                Be still and know that I am God. It sounds simple but it is not, of course. But it is a course of action that we sorely need in the face of pandemics, Taliban, forest fires, indigenous children grave sites, and whatever personal chaos we are struggling with. “He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves.” (Psalm 107: 29, NLT)

                “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?... Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? … No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 31, 35, 37-39, NLT)

 Dale