Weekly Musing - Sharon

The Practice of Stillness:

“Surrender your anxiety. Be still and realize that I am God. I am God above all the nations, and I am exalted throughout the whole earth.”

Psalm 46:10 TPT

Even though I have heard this verse millions of times, it struck me differently when I read it again last week. Quite frankly, in the past, I have not enjoyed this verse-at ALL!

For this ADHD, doing supported, Enneagram Type 2 human the idea of stillness sounded torturous!

But as I am learning to embrace stillness in my life, this verse has become precious.

Let’s unpack the immensity of these few words:

“Surrender your anxiety”, the footnote says “or Let go!” The Septuagint reads “relax”.

“Be still”, the word for still is raphah and means letting go of control and self-reliance.

And realize that I am God, most translations say “know”, which the Septuagint reads “yada”. That is my very favorite Hebrew word! It is not a “head” knowledge, it’s a very intimate knowledge. Like where it says “Adam knew Eve”, Gen. 4:1. It doesn’t get anymore intimate than that!

What if the response to our anxiety in the midst of life’s difficulties could be to let go of our self-reliance, and relax in knowing/yada the triune God. Our loving Father who was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, and Holy Spirit who pours her fruit into our souls. When I practice stillness, I experience the Father’s wraparound Love, which allows me to be aware of joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. What if, we could take some time to be still and know that we can experience the fruit of the Spirit at all times. The more I practice stillness, the love of the Triune God growths bigger and better. Will you join me in practicing stillness?

Also see Ps. 62:5&6 TPT:

“I am standing in absolute stillness, silent before the one I love, waiting as long as it takes for him to rescue me. Only God is my Savior, and he will not fail me. For he alone is my safe place. His wraparound presence always protects me as my champion defender. There’s no risk of failure with God! So why would I let worry paralyze me, even when troubles multiply around me?”