"Be still and know that I am God."

Each Wednesday at 11:00am at the Bishop's office in Lansing, we gather for Eucharist. All and any are welcome to join us (and eat lunch with us after as well). The following is my meditation from this morning on the Psalm for Reformation Day, Psalm 46. It led into a literal time of quiet meditation for those of us gathered together. 

This morning I want to focus on Psalm 46, specifically verse 10 – Be still and know that I am God.

“Be still” can be translated from Hebrew as: “Let go”, “surrender”, “cause yourself to become weak.”

It literally means “Shut up and know that I am God.” Think about the proverbial family road trip with the kids constantly asking, “Are we there yet?  Are we there yet?  Are we there yet?”  The answer, of course, is be still or shut up!

How often do we ask God for everything, but we don’t stop to shut up and be still, let go, or cause ourselves to become weak?  The act of being still and getting quiet becomes more of a challenge in our hectic world. The world asks us to be busy. God asks us to be still so that we can simply be in the presence of God, remembering that God is always with us and within us. Becoming weak is not something we value. We wish to be in control of our lives and our world. In effect, we seek to become our own personal God. But in the act of becoming weak, shutting up, being still, we re-learn that God is God. That we belong to God, not the other way around. That God’s presence is within and round us at all times and in all places.

In the 12-step program Alcoholics Anonymous the 11th step is to learn to be still all the time. To constantly be in a state of surrender to God. Perhaps each of us can take some advice from that program and train ourselves to constantly be in a state of stillness and surrender to God.

This isn’t a passive state, it is an active state of meditation and it takes practice. Today, we will practice together using verse 10 of Psalm 46. I will read it 4 times each time removing part of the verse until we reach simply the word “be.” Each of the 4 times I will follow with instructions for silent meditation.

At the end I will begin singing hymn 616, “Jesus, Remember Me” to bring us out of our meditation. We will sing it several times in succession.

Be still and know that I am God.

Know that God is present. Ask to feel God’s presence.  

Be still and know.

Become aware of God within and around you.

Be still.

Slow your mind. Focus on God.

Be

Sit and bask in the presence of God. 

*I consulted the following websites in preparation for this meditation: http://guidedchristianmeditation.com and http://www.hebrew4christians.com