Be Still: What It Means to Wait Well
A short study on stillness, and why resting in God is an act, not an absence of one.
The psalmist writes, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth" (Psalm 46:10). The words arrive in a psalm about upheaval. Mountains fall into the sea. Nations are in uproar. And into that noise comes a single instruction: be still.
Stillness here is not idleness. It is a decision. To be still is to stop striving long enough to remember who holds the earth, and to let that knowledge settle deeper than our worry. The verse pairs two things we often keep apart: stillness and knowing. We are not asked to feel calm. We are asked to be quiet, and in the quiet, to know.
This is hard for a tired reader. The demands do not pause because we have paused. Yet the command stands. Rest is permitted. More than permitted, it is commanded.
Today, try one still minute. Say the verse slowly. Then return to your work, carrying the knowledge with you: God is God, and you are not required to hold the world together.
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