BE STILL

I'm reposting an article made by my sister, Loreen, for Cebu Daily News....

BE STILL

“When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with you above the storm.
Father, you are King over the flood.
I will be still and know you are God.”

Beautiful worship song I’ve come to love. It tells us to be still. Be quiet. Know there’s a God. But this is not always easy to be so.

In this fast and busy world where you wish there’s more than 24 hours a day to do all what you need to do, to be still and be quiet rarely happen.

Debts to face. Bills to pay. Careers to push. Business to thrive. Children to take care of. Overtime for work. Like what the song is saying, these are the rising oceans, roaring thunders and storms we have everyday. So how can there still be time to be still and be quiet? The strong stresses that there is a God we must know who rules over the chaos of the world.

Sure, you can say that you always know there is God. If so, why won’t you have the time for Him then? The time for the God we know is quiet time…that personal encounter with him where in the stillness of our being, His spirit is. And then He speaks in our hearts. If we listen well, He will always have a special message for us.

The past weeks have been frenzy for me. Making sure those revenues for our business operation is stable everyday commands a great responsibility for me. And all my senses stay alert everyday…mind boggling, eyes straining (we are in the internet business so the computer is a must) and time-consuming hours of work.

I found myself having lesser quiet time and more computer time; more business thinking than spiritual reflections. In prayer, my body will be postured in worship to God but my mind continues to rush here and there.

No wonder that I seem not to be getting the messages I’m asking from God lately. My questions to Him come back to me hollow. One night, I bowed down and pleaded for an answer to a request I was making. Try I did to listen, yet nothing. I was like a full glass of water overflowing with my own thoughts and plans.

And then I gave up. I realized that if I am full, how can God come through my spirit? It was past midnight when I quieted my mind and gave in to the silence around. I emptied myself of the useless blabbering of words and overflowing worldly thoughts. Be still and know there’s a God.

I got a devotional book and guess what greeted my eyes? On the page I flipped open is a story of a certain Mark who wrote a computer program for his office that enables the issuance of certificates complete with picture files. That day the customer line was rather long so it became a huge problem when the program suddenly conked out! He made several hurried prayers to the Lord and continued to find solutions. Fast prayers and panic combined, Mark was suddenly at a loss.

Then suddenly, he felt the need to be still and focus on the Lord in prayer for wisdom. In a few minutes, that wisdom came and his problem was solved. Not through his busy thinking but from simply quieting down and being still.

So you can imagine what went through me when I read that story at that particular moment when I was also in a frenzied state myself over work and schedules. Then I smiled, looked at the cross before me and sighed, “So, this is what you have been trying to tell me, Lord…all this time.”

I had desperately wanted to hear from God, yet my mind continues to be distracted and so busy thinking my own way that I missed His message. This may not yet be the answers to my questions and problems, but God has taught me to focus first on Him by being still; to give Him that moment of silence so He can reveal Himself to me as my God who is over and beyond all problems.

Read again the song in the beginning of this column. It’s actaully not just a song. These are God’s own Words in Psalm 46:11, “…be still and confess that I am God!”

I am writing this article in a special state of silence and stillness. What better topic to write for you than the disposition I’m going through. And what an inspiration it is to also exhort you to make time for the Lord’s entry in your heart. When you feel exhausted, confused, harassed, panicky and pressured, stop…focus on the God that you confess to know…be still …and then you will know He is there…that He is your God after all.