Be Still, and Know
An ancient line, written for a frightened people, asks us to stop before it asks us to understand.
The psalmist writes: "He says, '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).
Notice the order. Stillness comes first, knowledge after. The verse does not ask for a clear head or a settled heart as the price of entry. It asks only that we stop.
That is harder than it sounds. A tired reader knows how the mind keeps working long after the hands have put the day down. Stillness is not the absence of trouble. The surrounding verses speak of nations in uproar and the earth giving way. The command to be still is spoken into that noise, not after it has passed.
To be still, then, is not to pretend the trouble is small. It is to let it be God's for a moment, and not only ours. The knowing follows. It is offered as a gift, not demanded as a feat.
Today, before the list of things to do, try the first word only. Be still.
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