“Be still and know that I am God.”
A few weeks ago, I was speaking with a friend who told me about how God told her this and that and it made me think about a time in my life when I was quick to say the same thing, and why I am not so quick to say it now.
The question that has been on my mind and maybe on yours is this: How do we hear the voice of God, and how do we know the voice we claim is God’s, really is his?
Many answer this question by saying that God speaks through the Scripture, through nature, through others, through the still small voice within. It is the still small voice within that I want to put to you today.
In Psalm 46:10: “Be still and know that I am God.”
1 Kings 19:12: “And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind and earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.”
So maybe the better question is, do we listen?
I am going to take a risk here, and I pray that you will read this as an exercise and not as gospel! While I was at my caravan a while ago, I sat gazing at the sea and asked “Jesus, what is your word for me today?”
Here is what I wrote, it’s what I believe I heard from God. “Let the water and the wind speak to you this morning. Let the bird song, minister to you. You are tired, you are experiencing a blessed exhaustion. Now renew yourself in the stillness of the beauty here—in the warmth of the sun, in the rainbows floating on the surface of the water. I know what you need body, mind and spirit. I provide all you need.
What is needed, what all people need, is beauty to make them whole. Everywhere you look in creation it is there raw and wild. Just like the waves that are rippling, so let my spirit flow through you. Be present to all that is around you; be immersed.”
“Does God value beauty for beauty’s sake? It seems He does. Consider the two columns Solomon set up before the Temple. He decorated them with a hundred pomegranates fastened upon chains, as God commanded. These two free-standing columns supported no architectural weight and had no engineering significance….
They were there only because God said they should be there as a thing of beauty. We may have forgotten that beauty …. is a form of praise to the God who designed and created magnificent mountains, delicate flowers, and our beautiful children…. The God we worship glories in beauty.”
I encourage you, this week, to be still and know God; to listen to his still small voice within, and don’t be afraid to scribble out what you hear. You will know if the words you write are of Him or not. May the Holy Spirit flow over and through you.
May you hear his voice today and everyday.
With my love and prayers
Rev Pat
