The news began early this morning…another mass shooting, really two today…it consumed the whole day in the media…in between there are encounters with people who are frazzled, upset, disturbed, worried and anxious.  I work in a place where I encounter people with problems daily.  That doesn’t even include the issues and problems that pop up in the day with computer glitches, hardware malfunctions, staff, budget woes, traffic tie-ups, personal concerns and relationship rifts.  It doesn’t take much to get ourselves wound up tight, just thinking about what goes on around us, much less what we experience in a day.  If we allow ourselves, we will quickly find ourselves frazzled, upset, disturbed, worried and anxious.

Early in my Christian walk, I grabbed a hold of Psalm 46.  It opens with these powerful words: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (v. 1)  Near the end are the calming words for my soul, “Be still and know that I am God…” (v. 10)  In days like today, it is what I gravitate to.  I am reminded that there is nothing that happens on this earth, God is not already aware of.  As the verses in between remind us, God as creator and maintainer of the universe, sits in the middle of all the mess we create as humans.  He is unshakable in His character and being.  No matter what comes our way, if we can just take a few minutes to breathe and remember this, perhaps we won’t get so frazzled, upset, disturbed, worried and anxious.  But in the event we find ourselves going there, we have a very simple piece of instruction;  be still and know that God is God.  The problem all too often is that we don’t like to be still, don’t know how to be still or we are uncomfortable with being still.  Our nature is to do something about anything, even when it is out of our control.  A truer sense of the phrase ‘be still’ is ‘cease striving’.  That says speaks volumes to me.  As a person whose mind is always running, whose always got multiple things happening at once, to cease striving lets me know that I just need to stop sometimes and absorb the sovereignty and power of God and trust that He knows how to fix the things I cannot.

One morning I went walking and the fog was lifting off a creek.  My surroundings were completely still, no breeze, no birds, no movement.  It was in that very moment I remembered Ps. 46:10 and grasped the calmness and assurance of the Psalmist’s confidence in God.  Today, as the news was rolling, the issues were mounting around me, God graced me to remember that morning scene, take a deep breath and reminded me that as crazy as life gets, He is right here, a refuge, a strength and help in times of trouble.  When I can’t fix it, mend it or make it better, I can stop trying  and just let God do His work.  I think He might know what He is doing considering that the sun has not fallen out of the sky, the moon and tides are still on schedule, my lungs are still inhaling and exhaling oxygen and even if for some reason I don’t wake up tomorrow, I am pretty sure that all these things will still be happening without my help.  I’ve decided in the midst of this craziness, I will take a few minutes and BE STILL.