Several months ago I sat down with the Lord to pray and ask for His guidance on what to do. I had so many unanswered questions circulating in my mind and I was eager and ready to get to work and tackle them head on with God’s help. As I began to pray and ask God what the plan of action is to answer all of my troubles, He presented me with only one word. Nothing.
To no one’s surprise, I continued to ask Him things like “Are you sure?” and “How is doing nothing at all supposed to help me right now?”. This is when He brought me to Psalm 46. In the 10th verse of this very Psalm, God speaks a phrase that answered much more than I even needed in the moment. “Be still, and know that I am God”. Those words brought me to the realization that I had gotten too caught up in just trying to rashly fix everything without taking a moment to pause and think about just Who I’m serving in the process.
I can remember when my mom used to brush my hair as a kid, and while she was working through all of the knots, I would be squirming because it hurt. She would say, “Be still! It only hurts more when you move!” And I think about that now, and see how similar that is to what God is asking of us.
Sometimes we make things harder on ourselves by constantly striving, worrying, and trying to fix everything on our own. We move when He is asking us to be still, only causing more hurt. It’s not that He doesn’t see the pain, but He knows that peace, clarity, and healing come when we trust Him enough to stop fighting for control.
“Be still” may feel like doing nothing, but it is an act of trust. It is choosing to pause, to rest, and to let God work through our knots in His ways instead of ours.
As I continue to sit with that, I realize how often I mistake movement for progress. I think that I need to have a plan, to fix everything, and to figure it all out right away as quickly as possible. God is never asking me to hurry to do more. He simply just asks me to trust Him more.
There is a peace that comes when you finally stop striving and remember that He is God, and you are not. A peace that does not come from having all the answers, but from knowing the One who does. The same God who asks us to be still is the One who goes before us, fights for us, and holds the most minute details of our lives in His hands.
Maybe you are in a season right now where everything feels uncertain and you are trying to figure it all out. Your first instinct might be to go into survival mode to fix, plan, or move. But maybe God is asking you the same thing He asked me. To be still.
To trust Him in the waiting.
To rest without having all the answers.
To know that He is already working, even when you cannot see it yet.
That is what “Be Still” means. Not perfection. Not having everything figured out. It’s a reminder to sit in the comfort of our Lord’s presence and trust that He is already untangling your knots.
