BE STILL

 Today is your lucky day, why?  Because I will post twice today. :)  As I went about my day and thought more on my blogging I decided to listen to God and see what He had to say.  I mentioned in my first post that I am curious what my future will hold.  The more I thought on this the more my mind went back to my daily devotions I've been reading lately.  They both in the past couple of days talked about being still and listening to God.  Being patient and waiting on anything is something I am still working on and honestly believe God gave me my second child to help me with that. :)  I decided to look up the words BE STILL in the Bible and see exactly where they are used and why.  Mainly so I can see why should I be still, especially when the world says walk, jog, run, hop, jump, fly, you must always have something going and it's even better if it's all at the same time...well okay, that's how it feels but if you have kids you know what I mean.  Other than walking with my friends to get exercise, walking does not fit in my life.  So back to my question....why be still?  I invite you to  look at three verses that I found and let's see if I can answer that question. 
  The first time be still is used in the Bible is in Exodus 14:14 "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."  This is talking of the Isrealites fleeing the Egyptians.  Funny how God sent them out of Egypt and when they began to cry out he told them be still.  Isn't this what we all want to do, fight our own fight and when things get too tough then we call on God and cry out.  If only we would do this first....Be still and he will fight for you and answer you, but you have to listen. The next verse is really hard for me as I'm sure it is for you  Psalm 37:7 says, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes."  Ha, did I just read that I am to be patient...O how I dread that word.  Be patient....we as a world are not patient...we have to always hurry to get where we are going and in college we even have a ten minute rule...professor doesn't show up we are gone. Who has time to wait?  But what are we missing if we aren't being patient and waiting on the Lord?  How many opportunities to do great things for Him has passed me by because I wasn't patient or I put a time frame on what God should do?  I catch myself sometimes praying God if you could just do this now then I can do that later.  That's not what we are told to do though.  God's timing is perfect and so I find that if I wait it's always better than I had planned. This next verse I knew before I looked it up because I have heard it a lot. Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."  Again, I have no problem with knowing that God is God and he will be exalted, but that first part gets me every time.  If I hurry and do this then maybe this will happen and if that happens then I can get what I want and probably a lot faster than if I am still. Right, I mean we are taught if you want something go for it.  You can't sit still or it might not be there later.  God will allow things to happen in your life as He plans for them to.  No need to rush.  After all in Mark 4:39 Jesus calmed the storm, "He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet!" Be still! Then the wind completely died down and it was completely calm."  If the waves and wind are calmed by Jesus, so should we.  Seek Him daily, search for His answers in the Bible, and take the time to Be Still and listen.  I assure you He will answer.  No matter if you're like me wondering what your future might hold or going through one of life's many tragedies, quiet yourself and be still.  After all, "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? " Romans 8:31  Life is difficult, and way more complicated than I ever imagined it would be, but He tells you Be Still so even though it's hard for me to do.  I am going to work on being still and waiting patiently.  Sorry for the long post, until next time may God Bless you and Keep you. :)
   
"Be still, and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10