Welcome to the Winter Bible Study, a time to reflect and spend in God’s Word. The passage we are using this year is short but contains so much for us to reflect on. We’ll look at three areas; Be still, Know, and God. What new adventures take route in the stillness? Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

Psalm 46:10a; NLT; Be still, and know that I am God.

As we challenge ourselves this time to learn how to be still and know God, January helps us with that, the silence of a winter snowfall. This past weekend we had a couple of snow days. As I stood on the back deck you could hear the silence. Not much going on, just a stillness until the snow stops.

A snowy day becomes a reason to be still. Nowhere to go, nothing to do, just let the day come to you without the need to fill it with the busyness of life. Life slows down when it snows, schedules change, it gets a little less rushed. I sometimes think life should be that way, no agenda, no deadlines, let it come as it will and we can respond from there.

We don’t look at life that way. In fact, we look at life the opposite, we plan and fill our agenda with things we feel need to get done. We can become a slave to doing things. We feel like if we don’t have a plan, somehow, we are shirking our responsibility. The world pressures us into being busy, 24-7, 365.

I understand the need to plan and accomplish things in a timely manner but let me share this about times gone by; they were slower and allowed for downtime. I am not sure who convinced us that we need to fill every waking hour going here or going there, but that is not the way to have a full life.

It seems we have so much we want to do. That’s great but we can miss a few things that are significant in life. We are cautioned in God’s Word about letting something consume us and being our only focus; work, food, alcohol, sports, and the like. We can become an ___aholic about anything.

Remember, there is a benefit to stopping, sitting and resting. We need to or life will consume us, devour us, drain us and destroy us. We are encouraged by God’s Word to plan quiet time, stillness, in our lives. Time to reflect and appreciate all we have been blessed with.

Technology is a double-edged sword, while it can make things easier and quicker, we fill the time saved with stuff instead of stopping and relaxing. There used to be a time built in the week to do that; Sunday. Stores, banks, schools, children’s activities and sports, came to a halt. Sunday was a quieter day built in the week for a break from the routine. God instituted it and man used to live that way. In fact it is one of the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 20:8-11; NLT; “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

The world has slowly crept in and robbed us of the blessing of a Sabbath Day. Now some have resisted, Chick-Fil-A comes to mind, they close on Sunday. Hobby Lobby is another. A restaurant and a retail store, both were told you’ll never make it without Sunday sales. Wrong folks, they do just fine and their employees are the better for it. I lament the day when everything is 24 x 7 x 365, that is the day we stop living.

Every day it seems the world we live in has more and more things happening that consume our attention. Night and day our minds don’t seem to stop. It is becoming harder and harder to unplug, slow down and be still. The world says you are falling behind, keep up! Technology has run wild. I think it is time to restrict its invasion into our lives.

There comes a time when we have to make a choice. Time has a way of passing and if we don’t look up from our phones we will miss it. I am as guilty as the next, letting technology rule the day. The TV is streaming something, I’m working on my laptop, my phone is within reach and who knows I may need to take a break and play a game on my iPad.  We can literally occupy every minute of the day with technology.

Psalm 46:10a; NLT; Be still, and know that I am God.

As we face the challenges of keeping pace they wear on us. I wonder if we can stop and be still. God’s Word helps us understand that we all were created with the internal need to be still at times. Have we built time into our schedule for stillness?

Be still. Think about that, stillness, what does that mean. Some of us are good at it, others are not so good. I was that kid who could never sit still. I still am not good at sitting still, there is something in me that always seems to be moving. I need to work on that. I need to practice being still.

What does it mean to be still? It’s like a power outage, everything shuts off, everything is quiet, everything stops. We need a personal power outage to stop. Stop what? Stop talking, commenting, complaining, questioning, moaning, arguing, rationalizing, justifying, etc. Switch off the phone, television, tablet, game console, etc. It means, stop all the things we use to grab our attention and make us busy. That is the biggest challenge, stop.

If I stop all that, what should I be doing? Know God. In the stillness we should seek God, to know Him. We can use His Word, we can talk with Him, we can ask Him questions, we can listen to Him. Look forward with me to sitting still, listening to what the Word says about the God who created us. I hope you will join with me and discover how beneficial it can be to sit still and know God.

Blessings,

Pastor Don