Be Still

it seems like there are tons of people around me who are going through tough times at the moment. things just seem to be going poorly for people. i wouldn't say that things are going awesome for me but i would say that i am used to things not being perfect and so when things aren't good in my life, i'm completely fine with it. this is not to brag that i handle things well but more to say that my life isn't going perfect and thus disqualify me from making the following comments. my life is generally a struggle, but a good struggle.
i was thinking about these people around me though and trying to think of something to tell them that would encourage them and help them get through these tough times. i was thinking about it and an old song that i used to sing in choir came to mind. the song is called "Be Still" and it is based off of Psalm 46:10a "Be still, and know that I am God." the verses leading up to this verse is all about the works of God and all that he can do and does, mostly in a wartime setting. verse 10 is then just kinda thrown in there almost as if to make us stop and take a double take at this verse. the author then gives the sum up and calls us back to the point that he was trying to make and the point that he introduced in the beginning, that God is our fortress, our refuge and strength.
i like the first part of verse 10 though, "Be still" our culture is all about going and moving, more coffee to keep us going, and more stuff to keep our attention from ever having to think on it's own. this verse is just telling us to stop, sit down, and KNOW that God is God. that is a chilling thing to think about. to just sit and think about the fact that God is God and we are not and that we don't have to worry about anything, God is the one who moves mountains, He is the one who causes the seas to churn, and He is the one who causes all things to happen. we don't have to figure out why or how or anything, we just have to trust, do still, and know that He is God and that He is going to take care of it. we just must be faithful. God is God. He does it all.
we can worry about life and struggle and work to make things right, but we are not called to do that. we are called to be still and know that He is God. we can then think about what we should be doing, if anything, and go from there. first though, we must be still.

to take this even further though: while being still and figuring out what we can be doing, in all this, we must also be trusting that God will take care of it all. it isn't enough to know and think that He will take care of it all, we just actually trust Him to do it and to put our faith in Him to do it. faith requires action but this faith, this action, is probably going to be not action. it is going to be a trust God thing. what are you going to do about something? oh, i'm going to let God take care of it. this is actively non-active. this isn't laying in bed, trusting that God is going to pay your bills. this is busting your butt and trusting God to provide you with work so that you can pay your bills. if there is no work, then you continue to trust God and allow Him to work and bring you work. you don't need to worry about the lack of work, you just have to worry about what you are doing in the absence of the work. you are responsible for your time on earth, not on if work comes to you. if no work, then there is more time to witness about how you trust God to bring you work and He will then bring you work, though not always in the way that you think.
if something bad happens in your life, being still would mean that you don't worry about the bad in your life, but you rather look to God and see Him and His greatness and know that He is God and that He has ordained all things for some reason. bad things do happen and will always happen on this earth, we don't have to worry about finding bad things to happen to us, they will find us. what we have to worry about is how we handle them. it is easy to get mad or angry when bad things happen to us, and that would be the wrong response. we are called here to be still and know that He is God. so even when the bad things happen, we can know that a sovereign God is doing it, a God who is our refuge and strength. how can He be our refuge when He ordains bad things to happen to us? because while they may seem like bad things, they are for the best.

i think i should write more on this but my mind has just decided to shut down and so i am going to stop here.