Be Still - Part 1

Psalm 46:10 says:  "Be Still, and Know, that I am God..."

Great. But what does that actually mean?

The Hebrew word used is “Har·pū”, a derivative of “Raphah”, which we translate as “Be Still” but can also be translated as “Sink” or “Relax”… or, to quote the song my Frozen-obsessed-3-year-old sings on loop, “Let it Go”.

That might sound a strange thing for some of you to hear from a school-based blog, because obviously there are things that need doing, and work that’s being set… We need to be ready to hit the ground running when the “new normal” sets in. But we don’t do ourselves any favours by letting the pressure get to us.

We still need to find space and peace, we need to learn what it is to relax and rest, to “Be Still” amidst the craziness around us. That means being able to lay aside anxiety, the need for control, the stresses and worries of what’s going on around us and the concerns for the future.

“Har·pū”, properly “Being Still”, is that feeling you get when you get into bed after a long day, and as you lay down you let the mattress do its work, and your limbs go numb. In that moment you have surrendered to the mattress. It is in complete control, holding your weight, allowing you to properly relax.

My understanding of what the Psalmist is suggesting is that we can rest in God, that He is willing and able to hold us securely, and more than that, that He is the only one in whom we can have that full faith and trust in his ability to hold us. While the world around us adds pressure and takes on a different shape, we can “Let Go, and Let God.”

Prayer

May each of us know what it is to breathe out, to relax, to find peace and space and to “Let Go” in the midst of the craziness around us.

May we claim the promise that God is big enough to hold us and give us rest.

May we find ourselves recharged, re-energised, ready, and excited for what is to come as a result of being able to “Be Still”.

Amen

Challenge

What would it mean for you to “let go and let God”:  Hold you?  Take your burdens?  Speak to you?  Heal you?  Comfort you?  Re-energise you?  Breathe into you?  Make himself known in you?

Find a space today and find out: Let go, and Let God…

Written by Marc Williamson

Youth Worker, Nottingham North East Methodist Circuit

Marc regularly delivers Acts of Worship at Bluecoat Aspley and Wollaton