Be Still

2011 is no more. It's hard to believe it's really gone. Last year was full to the brim! So many miracles. So many answers to prayer. So many lessons learned. So many new adventures. It's like saying goodbye to a cherished friend.

Peering ahead, I'm not sure how to feel about 2012. Excited? Scared? I can't see what this year holds. But I do know that more than anything else, I want to walk every step of 2012 with God.

I'm not one of those people that makes a long list of new year's resolutions. I used to, but discouragement always took over as months of struggling in my own strength yielded more failures than successes. Daily listening for God's voice and taking up the goals and challenges He presents to me--New Year's or not--brings me much more peace. But as I contemplate my desire to walk closer with God this year than last, I can't help but resolve one thing:

Be still, and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10).


I can't get that verse out of my mind. And the more I think about it, the more profound its message becomes. I don't know when last you read Psalm 46, but it is by no means a quiet chapter.

Waters roar.
Mountains shake.
The heathen rage.
Kingdoms move.
God speaks--the earth melts.
He make wars cease,
                breaks bows,
                      snaps spears,
                            burns chariots.

And then--suddenly, Be still. God is in the thick of the action, and what am I supposed to do? Hurl myself into the fray?

Be still.


Be still, and know that I am God. Not "see." Not "understand." But "know." Experience.


This command is so much more than instruction to spend daily quiet time with God, although I have no doubt it includes that. It's as if God is saying, "Surrender the battle. Be still. Experience My power working in and through you. Know that I am God."

All my life I've struggled with self, and I know that it will not leave me in peace just because it's a new year. If anything, Satan will double his efforts to stir up the selfishness in me, and instigate far greater battles than I've experienced. But this year I'm praying God will teach me one thing:

To be still, and know that He is God.