....know

The presence of God is a wonderful gift which is available to every believer. No longer is His presence confined to a specific location or available to only a few; "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" Matthew 28:20. 

But the gift of His presence requires discipline in order to be received and maintained. We don't earn this gift; it truly is a gift! But we live in such a noisy and hectic world that we often simply miss His blessing unless we are willing to actively order our time and priorities...and this takes effort!

We are all given the same 24 hours in every day. Yet most of us generally try to put far too much into this precious time. We become frustrated with the constant busyness, but when given the opportunity we add even more to our schedule. Each of our activities may be good, but the result is often a frantic pace void of the true blessings from God. As our activity level increases, it becomes more and more difficult to hear God and nearly impossible to ponder the meaning of His truth. The result is that the contentment of walking in His presence is often missed. For this reason, God gives us a gentle reminder - actually, He gives us a firm command.

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

There are many things in life which are good - many good people and good activities that require, or at least desire, our time. While God definitely calls us to serve and minister to one another, we must understand that constant busyness hinders our ability to hear God. To maintain effective communication with God and nurture a sense of His peace, we must make time, and put forth the "effort," to simply stop and rest in His strength.

We must never forget that what our Heavenly Father desires more than anything else is for us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength Mark 12:30, or what Jesus says is most important: "...only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her" Luke 10:42.

As we see our pace beginning to increase, let's draw near to God by quietly worshipping Him and giving thanks for the awesome gift of His Son. Let's protect our schedule such that we have time for God's very best. Let's receive and enjoy His true blessings as we make time every day to simply be still and know.

- steve troxel