“Be still and know that I am God,” Psalm 46:10. Such a popular passage, it’s easy enough to take for granted. But how do we live it? How do we get really still?
I think of something my mom used to say to us kids. “Listen to me. You’ve got to get quiet to listen to me.”
There it is. We’ve got to get quiet to listen to God. And that’s a precious practice I make every day. Here are some simple steps as you, too, get still and know that God is God.
Take time out of your day, every day. If it was hard in biblical times to get quiet and listen to God, think how much harder it is these days. We’ve got emails screaming at us, not to mention our phones buzzing in our pockets. Whenever I stand waiting for the subway, I notice how nobody is looking around. Everybody’s staring at their phones. And I’m just as guilty.
Give yourself some time every day where you’re not going to pay any attention to those texts or emails. Be quiet. Sit still to listen to God.
I said, “every day.” You want to make it a habit—a good habit—and habits are things you do every day. I stay connected to my wife by making sure we have time together, listening to her. If we get too distracted, we lose touch. We use that phrase “a comfortable silence” in a marriage. Why not seek it with the Lord?
Find a time for being still. Stick with it and discover the joy it will bring.
Make a place for it. My time of stillness is first thing in the morning. I go into what we still call the TV room (although that old TV disappeared years ago) and sit on the lumpy sofa, closing my eyes. Twenty minutes is okay. Half an hour is better.
A regular place helps you get connected to God in the silence. A chair, a corner of your room, sitting up in your bed. That familiar place—at that special time —will remind you: “I’m here getting silent, listening to the Lord.”
How do you quiet the noise inside your head? It’s noisy outside. It can even be noisier in our heads. I’ll start thinking of checks I need to write, meetings to attend, emails to send. “Wait, wait, didn’t I want to get silent with God?” I ask.
As great spiritual masters have taught us, notice the thought. Then let it go. Catch and release. All those worries and concerns you’re releasing back to God. They’re in good hands. That’s what the stillness has let you do.
Use a holy word. Take a word, a single word and use it to pull you back from distracting thoughts. As the anonymous writer of the 14th-century text The Cloud of Unknowing suggests, a single syllable word can work best, like “God,” “peace,” “love.”
Every morning in this time of stillness, in the midst of anxieties and worries, stillness comes to me. Even if it’s just a moment, that moment is precious. Soon enough I’ll get up from the sofa and face the day. But I won’t do it alone.
Don’t think you have enough time? Think again. Being still helps you prioritize what’s most important. God gives you the time.
