“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10, NIV)
God knows my gripe: this adverb is making me crazy! (I feel sorta uncomfortable saying this, but I must get this out of my system!). “Still” means limits: I’m “still” not prepared to go alone to A; I’m “still” not allowed to work on so-and-so assignment; I’m “still” worrying too much…and so on. The word makes me slightly aggravated at a certain point. However (and I am breaking grammar rules), it is true: life works at God’s time. When He says I still can’t do this, I still can’t do that: simple as that!
Still also means just…plain stillness. A sense of quietness must be perceived. If there are things that I “still” can’t do about, my life will be (and is supposed to be) at peace with that decision. I recall David’s want now: He wanted to build a house to God, but Nathan told him that he wasn’t doing it; in a sense, it wasn’t “still” time to do the temple. He did console David, as he held part of the house of the living Christ.
I can recall God doing so in my life. Last year, in the midst of the whole hoopla of my father being outside the island, I was asking for freedom of spirit. I also wanted freedom in Christ (which I obviously have). On a Friday in church, I stepped up to the altar. I asked for that freedom I wanted…but the answer was, “At its time, says the Lord.” More than enough, that freedom I asked wasn’t “still hanging”; it was and will happen.
I was loathing the word “still” because it acted like a catalyst for boxes. Truth is, that “still”, that annoying adverb that may seem harassing at times, is the one that I need at times to work my way through life. There’s a song from Hillsong, “Still” that reminds me of the only thing I can do right…