" Be still, and know that I'm God."Psalm 46:10
Isn't it interesting that we find time to do all other things, but to be still and to know God, we hardly find time in our busyness proned culture.
We find time to go to the gym for a workout; we find time to go to the stores to buy groceries to feed our bodies; we find time to read books and write stories for pleasure; but we find it so difficult to find time to be still. Silence and stillness somehow make us uneasy. Doing nothing makes us nervous. Today's culture dictates us to keep busy.
I remember a time some years ago, I was seated in the church waiting for the service to begin, when my daughter's Sunday school teacher came and sat in the row front of me. When she turned around to see "hi!" to me, she casually asked, " So, keeping busy...ugh?"
I could have easily said " yes," and mumbled about how busy I was and how tired I've become. That would have kept the conversation going. But instead, I replied, " No,...I'm not." I didn't intend to be impolite or cut short the conversation. I wasn't keeping busy at that time,and so I told her the truth. My answer must have sounded strange to her that she looked at me as if I had arrived from another planet. I regretted for giving such an answer and losing a good opportunity of talking to her, for soon she turned back and started talking to the person seated next to her.
It's very sad that when people of eastern religion could spend long hours in meditations and prayers in silence, we Christians hardly choose time to be alone with God and be quiet in His presence. The term meditation sounds unchristian in our righteous ears. Just last night, at our writers group, a member was complaining how hard is to find some quiet time to be with the Lord in these days. But when she does manage to find such time, how precious it becomes, she said. No wonder, God calls us to be still to know Him. Even churches are becoming louder and louder with drums and shouts of worship team on the stage that I wonder whether it's a conducive environment to be still and focus on God.
Just a month ago, we attended a church service of a well known preacher in America. My niece from England had listened to his preaching online and she was keen of visiting his church in California when she came down to visit us recently. We were too glad to drive her to the church which was an hour and a half from our house. The church was packed with people, and we were lucky enough to find good seats in the middle section of the sanctuary. But when the worship team came on stage and started to lead, my husband and I wanted to run behind and find seats somewhere in the far end. It was so loud that my husband literally put his hands to cup his both years. It was embarrassing to watch him do that, but he had no other option.
As it is in any rock concert, people were jumping and waving their hands with great emotion. It was so wonderful to watch people praising and worshipping like that. But, will that devotion and hyped emotion stay with them even after they left that place on that evening? Would that cooperate worship have the same impact as the private quiet time with the Lord? It's nothing about cooperate worship or how we worship at church. It's more of the time we carve out of our busyness to spend with the Lord in our prayer closet. If we cannot find time to be alone with God, how could we expect Him to have time for us? That doesn't seem fair at all. Yet, God in His grace choose to find time to answer us when we send Him our 911 call. His unconditional love oversees our selfish nature and comes to our aid whenever we call Him. It's His nature. Let's not take mean advantage of His goodness or take His mercy for granted!***
