Psalm 46:10 – Be Still (Let Go, Relax) & Know that I am God . . .
The Backstory
Let’s face it. Modern life moves fast. If you don’t move fast with it, you will not simply feel “left behind” but you will get “left behind.” Thus, in the midst of the madness, business, and activity of modern life and city dwelling, it is no wonder people say they struggle to “hear” God and “know” God. City life makes it hard to find a time or place to breath and simply “be still.”
Consequently, lost in the midst of the chaos and constant city noise it’s easy to “feel” like God has abandoned you or is stone cold silent about your worries, fears, and situation. Has God stopped speaking in our day? Or perhaps there is another answer.
The older I get the more deeply I long to unplug, get out of the city and into nature to simply “be still.” I’ve begged my husband for years to move to the mountains. Thinking I was marrying a “country boy” at 18, I inadvertently led him to a career in real estate in which he now essentially shapes cities. My longing for nature, like many people, goes deeper than introversion or personal preference. My soul, like yours I’m sure, has a constant yearning for connection. Authentic connection and intimacy that modern life can destroy even if unintentionally and even while seeking greater “ways” to connect.
The Revelation
What I realized over the years is that my soul’s longing to “escape city life” was deeper than personal preference. Instead, it is born of our soul’s desire to escape the constructs of the vision of architects. This is not to accuse architects of anything nefarious. It’s just that the nature of “cities,” like it or not, shifts atmospheres and energy in profound ways we don’t often recognize.
Going Deeper
For example, architects design, and builders build, cities that set specific limits on our movement and direct our every step, from where we gather food to where we walk and drive. Recently I’ve even read of certain people advocating to further restrict humanity’s movement in so called “smart cities” or “15-minute” cities, essentially making us all prisoners of and in our own cities. In a city, everything is louder, more crowded, busy, and predominately man-made, such as paved roads and sidewalks (we call this the concrete jungle in AZ).
However, in nature, God’s design allows greater freedom of general movement, open spaces, and an earth connected intimate resonance with our physical bodies, with nature, with each other, and with God. You feel it on the beach, and you feel it in the woods. It is, at its heart, the feeling of freedom in intimacy. Our souls long for this freedom to roam, to observe, to “be still” and quiet our souls “enough” to finally be able to hear and connect with our emotions “enough” to encounter the voice of the Lord first in nature and with each other, but primarily in our own hearts. It is a longing for an internal atmosphere that enables us to “be still and know” our God in a deeply intimate and healing way.
Important Technicality in the Greek
The reality is, the Lord is always speaking in many portions and in many ways IN the prophets to the fathers of our faith, but in these last days He has spoken IN the Son (says Heb 1:1-2). I would like to suggest that the Greek word εν “in” here is IMPORTANT. The Word says God spoke IN the prophets and IN the Son, and now He is speaking IN you! If only we can learn to “be still” to listen (hear/shema) Him speak!
Prophetic “Internal Hearing”:
Internal Hearing is one of the 12 Gates in which the Lord speaks to us, IN us, and through us. But first we have to learn how to “be still” by shutting out the noise, embodying our soul, breathing with our spirit, and stilling our flesh so that no matter where we are, or what our environment or circumstances, we can RECOGNIZE God’s voice that IS speaking continually IN us for those who have “ears to hear.”
ACTIVATION – “BE STILL” LISTENING Meditation:
Take a moment to close your eyes. Take a deep breath using your nose only and diaphragm. Hold for 2 to 4 seconds, then slowly release your breath approximately 8 seconds. If you notice you exhale too quickly (less than 6-8 seconds), do another breath and use pursed lip breathing (purse your lips to reduce your ability to exhale quickly and breath in the nose but out the mouth with slight resistance. This will help clear any dysregulation in your breathing (and lungs) if you’ve been anxious or holding your breath without realizing it.
Think of 1 or more things you can begin to be thankful for and express it to God. If you’re in an emotional state that is having trouble finding something to be grateful for, start looking around and observing your environment and find something to kick start your moment of thankfulness to God. As we used to say in the Marine Corps, it can always be worse, so find something and get the ball rolling and more importantly your energy shifting. Choose to begin to praise Him for His goodness toward you FROM your HEART. If you’re angry at Him for some reason, that’s okay, you can be angry and thankful at the same time. Choose to acknowledge the anger you feel and your desire for a different circumstance or outcome related to the anger, and then choose to set it down, releasing it, just for now, while you choose for the moment to turn your ATTENTION toward being thankful/grateful, expressing that from your heart.
Take the next 5 Minutes to sit in stillness and silence (eyes closed) using your sanctified imagination to sit before the Lord quietly in your favorite place. Observe the sensations of your body. The Lord often speaks through subtle vibrations in your body that will shift as you sit or lay down quietly in stillness before Him. In your mind’s eye, envision sitting or laying down with Him near a river or pond or lake or in the mountains, wherever your heart would long to hang out with Him in this moment.
Closing Prayer and Meditation.
Now read the following Psalm and meditate on its truths. Read slowly. Read it several times until the Lord highlights a word or phrase to you as He speaks to you through the Word. Then ask more questions and write down your first impressions. Don’t judge the impressions, just write them down first. You can observe and judge them later. Stay in receiving/listening mode.
Psalm 100 (NASB95)
A Psalm for Thanksgiving.
1 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.
3 Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
5 For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.
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