Simple words really...to be 'still'. It is always a struggle in our busy lives where we go through the hustle and bustle of work, plan for events, go to school and manage our time overall. For me lately, it speaks to me through my ailment. I know as of late I've been sick with a sinus infection which has caused me to feel exhausted and limited my abilities to function normally. And to top it all off it really upsetted me. I was pondering if I had mono, which thankfully I don't. I've also been a little cranky. But as I sat there letting my sickness and agitations simmer, I realized I forgot to focus on God.
A sister of mine likes to refer to "let us be still and know that You are God" (from Psalm 46:10a) often in her prayers. Like I've mentioned it is so simple, so true and really how often do we forget this and focus in on ourselves? Honestly, I have no idea what God wants to teach me in this time of sickness but I look forward to calming myself, letting go of my surroundings, my health, all of it so that I can listen to Him and learn...rather than trying to rationally figure out why I got sick or be so pessimistic about it.
There's a couple songs that I think of whenever I read Psalm 46:10. The first is a song you may know, especially if you've listened to Steven Curtis Chapman before. Its called God Is God, I highly recommend checking it out. But also the song that I identify with even more is Still by Hillsong. This song was written by Reuben Morgan and it sounds amazing on piano. =Þ
Let us be still and soar above the storm with You Father...
Special thanks goes to Megan for singing this song =Þ
Monday, October 27, 2008
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Awesome, Tony. 2 things flew to my mind as I read your words:
1) (most importantly) I really, REALLY love Revelations 4. I think I should read it at the start of every morning, or at least once a day sometime. I think that most American Christians are wayyyy too casual in our estimations of God Almighty...and why would we want to be still before Someone we don't understand or revere, especially when we believe that we are so sufficiently autonomous? This passage refreshes me to Who God truly is--and reminds me that He is as He is (glorified in Heaven) RIGHT NOW (not just an intangible idea way out somewhere, but a Being Who's really breathing, seeing, feeling, speaking, moving right this instant! Wow. Makes me wanna live with that much more integrity.
2) I can very much relate to your sickness. I returned from Haiti and immediately caught pneumonia, which made me feel unlike myself mentally (which sucks so much more than physically!) for almost the whole quarter. I remember lying on my floor, unable to sit up (much less trek down to d-class!) and was chatting on the phone w/ my longtime mentor (as we had weekly phone one-on-one chats)...expressing how miserable I was, how desperately I needed God to refresh me, but how inadequate I was to make myself "able" to meet with Him. She really inspired me to have faith to trust God to meet me where I was at, to actually whisper that I didn't have the strength in me to even keep my eyes open to a page of the Word, but I had to believe that He was present with me because He promises that He is. With the objective/liberation to "simply be" with God and allow Him to be with me, I opened myself up, waited, and was hit with fresh inspiration, power, joy, and even ENERGY that words cannot express! (you always hear these stories and figure what's gonna happen, but seriously I couldn't believe how immensely it was in reality!) I jumped up and ran down the hall, stood out on the balcony soaking in the sun w/ a grin, and just couldn't contain my joy from hugging the first bro/sis I saw and exclaiming, "Guess what?! GOD really, really LOVES you!"--which I could say as He'd spoken to me about how truly
He loves me!
Whew. That was long. But I just said it to encourage you that although sickness isn't fun (and tempting to pout and still be miserably autonomous and try to logically analyze the status quo, as you described...) it was in my experience last spring an opportunity for God to impress Himself to me in a new way. So I will be praying that you can trust that He is Who He is (and always has been and always will be!) and know His empowering, liberating, fulfilling love for you.
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