"I will be still and know You are God."
Have you ever tried sitting for extended periods, simply getting to know someone to build a deeper connection, without aiming to achieve something?
It's important to remember that God desires a deeper relationship with us. He wants us to encounter Him, know Him better, and understand His ways and purpose, rather than just focusing on doing things for Him. As we grow older, we often create checklists of what we think we should have already accomplished for Him. We may feel the need to have disciples, attend seminars and conferences, go on mission trips, read every page of the Bible without letting it gather dust, establish relationships with every believer, and lead a ministry, among other things, in order to be considered a good believer. While these are all great and beautiful things, when we become consumed with what we should do for Him, we can feel pressured, pride can overpower our humility in serving Him, and we may rely on our own strength, resources, and power. Sometimes, when we fail, we put too much burden on ourselves.
We often look towards the future, thinking that we should have this, that, and those because that's what the world is teaching us today. We feel like we'll be in trouble if we don't plan for the future, just like the thousands of motivational speakers we often hear. We rely on our strength and put a lot of pressure on the work of our hands. We pray to God, asking for prosperity in our plans. Adults, like me, sometimes have thoughts that bring us down. "What if I end up alone in the future? What if no one wants to marry me? What if I lose my job? What if I fail in my ministry? What if I don't make my parents proud?" So we feel the need to rush things, to find a stable and lucrative income. We need to hurry because we think that everything depends on us. Our relationships, our careers, and our futures.
But what I'm learning right now is to be still, to pray for stillness in my life. Not trying to do something great, just simply desiring to grow my relationship with Him. And it's beautiful when you just let Him and let go of wanting to take charge of many things. I'm learning that my goal is not to achieve what I want in my life, my plans, and my dreams nor to change the people I love in the way I expect them to be. Oh, I can let go of them because my goal is to know Him more, to get closer than yesterday, to surrender day by day even if I don't feel and see His works.
God is love, and His will is always the best. There is no second-best thing in Him; everything He does is the best. God is all-knowing, and His direction is always right. He is all-powerful and can enable me to do His will. He always takes the initiative to involve people in His work. He initiates, and all I need to do is to respond to His love, His ways, and His purpose.
Pray and watch to see what God does next. Praying and watching. Taking a moment of stillness. In a world that relies heavily on oneself, this is a hard thing to do - to just let God be God and be like a sheep who follows His voice one day at a time. We often think, 'I need to do something great to have value and worth.' But consider this: knowing God and experiencing Him gives you so much value that no gold and silver can surpass. To be loved by God is the highest relationship, the highest achievement, and the highest position in life.
There are many things in life that only God can do; only He and His power. As His children, we can rely on His daily, sufficient grace. We can be still, knowing that we are safe in His hands, assuring us that He can be trusted because He is a good God, a great Father, and a friend. And we can praise in the midst of stillness.
