Greetings to all who read this devotional message. I
hope you are having a good week, that you are
enjoying God's manifold blessings, and that you are
sharing those blessings with others.
Be still and know that I am God
(Psalms 46:10).
We live
in a noisy world, much more so than our
ancestors. Many of our work places
are filled with the noise of phones ringing, of
machinery humming, of people talking.
In numerous occupations, workers now wear
ear plugs to cut down on the noise level and
protect their hearing. When we are
at home, the TV is often on or the radio or the
CD player. Our driving is often
accompanied by talk radio or by music or by cell
phone conversations. I notice more
and more people walking or jogging while they
are listening to their I-pod or talking on their
cell phone. It is almost as if we
are afraid or perhaps bored with silence.
And yet silent times need to be an
important part of our daily routine.
We need a time for our minds to relax
and to process the constant stream of messages
and information that we are bombarded with. I
believe it is vital to our own inner peace to
have a regular quiet time to be alone and to
sort out our own thoughts or just to take a deep
breath and relax. A time of peace and quiet is
an essential barrier against the anxieties and
worries of our daily routine. We are prone to
worry about the problems of the world and the
problems of our families. But the psalmist says
that we have a refuge and strength in times of
trouble. We do not have to face all of life’s
problems in our own strength. The
Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is
our stronghold (Psalm 46:11).
But in our silent time we need to
go beyond reflecting about our own situations
and plans, as important as this is. The rest of
the verse says and know that I am
God.
God still desires to speak to us as He
did to holy men of old, but He speaks in a
still, small voice. And we need a
quiet time to hear His voice. We
need to meditate upon Him: upon His power and
majesty; upon His eternal being; upon the
magnificent creation that He brought into being
by His word; upon His commandments and teachings
revealed in Holy Scripture; upon His boundless
love and grace revealed to us through the life
and death of Jesus Christ; upon His blessings
and care and provisions in our daily lives; upon
His will for our individual lives.
And the more we meditate and reflect upon all
these things, the more inner strength comes to
us and the less threatening all the problems of
this world seem.
There is great inner
strength and peace and serenity to be gained by
the consistent practice of a quiet time with
God. Would you resolve to make such a time part
of your daily schedule. Be still
and know that I am God.
