Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Be Still

This morning in my quiet time, I was meditating on Psalm 46.10 (ESV), which says, "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"  This notion of stillness, and the meaning of stillness, struck me more than ever today, so I thought I'd share it with you.

First, I found many other scriptures that have to do with our need for stillness, such as:

Psalm 37.7 ESV
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
    fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,    over the man who carries out evil devices!

Mark 4.39 ESV
And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.


Next, because my wife calls me a "word nerd," I looked up the etymology of the English word "still," to find out its origins and history.  Here's what I found on the Online Etymology Dictionary:


still (adj.) Look up still at Dictionary.com
Old English stille "motionless, stable, fixed, stationary," from Proto-Germanic *stilli- (cognates: Old Frisian, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch stille, Dutch stil, Old High German stilli, German still), from PIE root *stel- "to put, stand," with derivatives referring to a standing object or place (see stall (n.1)). Meaning "quiet, calm, gentle, silent" emerged in later Old English. Euphemistic for "dead" in stillborn, etc. Still small voice is from KJV:
And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. [1 Kings 19:11-13]
Used as a conjunction from 1722.
still (n.1) Look up still at Dictionary.com
"distilling apparatus," 1530s, from Middle English stillen "to distill" (c.1300), a variant of distillen (see distill).
still (v.) Look up still at Dictionary.com
Old English stillan "to be still, have rest; to quiet, calm, appease; to stop, restrain," from stille "at rest" (see still (adj.)). Cognate with Old Saxon stillian, Old Norsestilla, Dutch, Old High German, German stillen. Related: Stilledstilling.
still (n.2) Look up still at Dictionary.com
c.1200, "a calm," from still (adj.). Sense of "quietness, the silent part" is from c.1600 (in still of the night). Meaning "a photograph" (as distinguished from a motion picture) is attested from 1916.
still (adv.) Look up still at Dictionary.com
"even now, even then, yet" (as in still standing there), 1530s, from still (adj.) in the sense "without change or cessation, continual" (c.1300); the sense of "even, yet" (as in still more) is from 1730.

So, "Be still" can mean three things:

1 - It can mean being motionless, quiet, and calm.  Taken in this sense, being still before the Lord means listening to God rather than filling the air with your own words.  It can mean settling the spirit rather than ceaselessly striving.  Not only can this be taken as an adjective (being calm), but it can be taken as a noun (being a calm).  Being still means being the calm in the world's storm, being the place where others can go in order to get some rest.

2 - It can mean being "even now" with God.  Or, put more simply, it can mean being in the present moment with the Lord.  Rather than letting your mind drift to failures of the past or future plans, being still can mean simply enjoying God's presence in the present.

3 - It can mean understanding that you are, in fact, a distilling apparatus for God's presence, peace, and Word.  To be a still and know that He is God means to fully process the knowledge of God--to let God's presence drip through you until you can offer an intoxicating draught of God's Holy Spirit to the world (Ephesians 5.18 ESV).

So, this simple phrase, to be still, is packed with meaning.  This one word, still, is a prayer in and of itself.  Simply sit and breathe, repeating this one word with every breath.  As you do so, ask God to make you you to be still, or to be a still.  As you exhale, let the word be your request to God, to give you His stillness.  As you inhale, receive the essence of still-ness that God wants to give you.  You'll find that stillness is worth so much more than striving.