By Hal Green
Through the Internet, we are becoming ever more aware of dire events happening all over our planet, from the pandemic to global warming to conflicts to famines. Yet Psalm 46 assures us that with God as our one and only refuge and strength we should not fear, regardless of outer circumstances. Rather, we need to be still to know and to trust the God who will save us. Talk about a timely psalm to pray:
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.”
“The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Come, behold the works of the LORD; see what desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. ‘Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations; I am exalted in the earth’” (Psalm 46:1-10).
The key verse to let in and pray is, “Be still, and know that I am God.” You are more open and can take more in when you are still. I remember a nun who led a time of silence and prayer during a four-day national prayer conference. Slowly she prayed: “Be still and know that I am God…. Be still and know…. Be still…. Be.”
As I have written:
“There is a knowing only stillness can convey, a grasping only silence will allow, so that insight may take root, dig deep, grab hold. Stillness is as essential to learning as sleep is to adjustment. Stillness permits time to expand just like space, so that truth may unfurl itself, and the knower unite with the knowing.”
“The heart daily yearns not only for calm and peace, but also for stillness and silence, so it may actually discern what it already knows, feel what it is feeling, release what it is withholding.”
(Contact Hal Green, Ph.D. at drhalgreen@gmail.com.)
