Sit Down and Be Quiet

" 'Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.'  The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." 
~~Psalm 46:10-11

Get the kids up for school.  Coffee.  Get to work on time.  More coffee.  Teach middle schoolers who are more interested in socializing and talking and texting than they are with sentence structures and editing and literature.  Still more coffee.  Grading papers, state testing, parents.  Grocery lists, grocery shopping, grocery cooking.  Baseball games, dance class, prom preparations, graduation announcements...((graduation announcements)).  Church on Wednesday, church on Sunday, Bible study, women's ministry.  Family time, family talk, family taxi.  Grandbabies, girlfriends, good night.  {Just to name a few...}

We live...abundantly.  Our time and our thoughts are consumed with the present and the next obligation...some even with the past.   Lately, God has been impressing upon me that He is about to do something new in my life and ministry.  I have been "working" to find what that is.  Praying, studying the Word, seeking...beneficial disciplines.  However, this weekend, God has brought this Scripture (and two others) to me three times through three different venues.

In church this morning, we hosted a guest evangelist and his wife.  Imagine the quickening when - at the end of his message - he invited the people who were struggling with a decision or were at a crossroads to come forward for prayer.  I moved to the front of the sanctuary and received their prayers over me, then his wife offered some counsel.  To paraphrase, she said, "God will reveal the details to you in a way that you will not mistake it.  Stop striving to find your answer."  This advice...for this season...resounded in my spirit.

Prayer is beautiful communion with God.  Studying the Word strengthens our spirit.  Seeking God's will is prudent.  Sometimes, though - like God is saying to me now - it is time to be still and know that He is God.  In the language that my cluttered mind and stubborn heart understand, He is actually saying, "Sit down and be quiet."  This is a much more difficult discipline than praying, studying, and seeking.  He wants me (and you) to withdraw to our prayer closet, sink into His presence, relax our minds from external distractions, and quiet our mouths.  When we are still in spirit, we will more readily perceive and discern His voice.  This, precious sisters, is the springboard for obeying His personal will for our lives.  How can we obey what we do not hear? 

I am caused to consider an old argument my kids have presented...ohhh...at least 5,000 times.  It's a result of selective hearing...you know, when I tell them to do something, they don't do it.  As they are being discipled for not doing what they were told, they protest, "I didn't hear you."  Well, the fact that they didn't hear me does not negate the fact that I gave the command.  They often do not hear because they choose not to listen.

It is often the same way with God: He has revealed this to me in a profound manner this weekend.  He has my quiet attention.  I will continue to pray, to study, and to seek His will...but for this particular matter in this precise season, I will stop striving and practice stillness in His presence.  As a result of being still and knowing God, He will be exalted.

Most Joyfully,

Tammy