Doing the actual "Be Still"

My life is in a bit of a turbulent period, o.k. if it was a movie you would be seeing sharks and tornadoes. You see a few years ago we were starting to build up our nest egg and the thing you never plan for happened. My husband was injured at work. Not like a little bump, or broken arm...he had a dual level cervical disc herniation. We were about to hit some turbulence.
 

Before we could get our pre-marriage debt paid off, we were back to treading water. At a third of my husband's regular pay we started to slowly get our feet under us. It was hard, and we couldn't afford the extravagances that we would've liked but we survived.

Once he was finally released things didn't automatically get better. He had to take a travelling job, and was gone for approximately 6 months. During those 6 months, I grew a baby. I wrangled our toddler alone, and went through my second pregnancy. I was lonely. I had deep depression. I felt abandoned and unloved. I know I wasn't but the enemy knows how to attack us the best, and I was under attack. I cried daily, I felt like the worst mother because I was so overwhelmed, and I clung to to Christ. I prayed deeper.

My husband came off the project when our daughter was born. We had saved enough for 2 months of bills. But we are at the end of those 2 months. I am in the storm. I am crying out in fear. But do you know what Christ is saying to me?

Mark 4:39-41 "He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

AmyRenee do you still have no faith? He can calm the waves with a phrase, "Be still". But you see the difference between me and the waves, the waves obey. There are 4 times the bible says to "Be Still"

Exodus 14:13-14 “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

The Lord had just liberated the Israelites from Egypt, He had turned the Nile to Blood, He had covered them in boils, dead frogs were everywhere and the first born of every family had died. But because the Egyptians were chasing them they thought God had abandoned them, they forgot everything He was capable of doing. OUCH! Hi God, maybe I should put some sandals on and go stand by the Red Sea with my doubt. The very next thing said was from the Lord "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on." He was preparing to fight for them, they are cornered on the banks of the Red Sea. All they have to do is be still and He will fight for them. HE WILL FIGHT FOR THEM. He never stopped fighting for them they simply doubted and feared. Anyone feeling attacked, no not by the world but by your own doubt. Standing with your back to the wall (or here the sea) questioning where God is, and then he tells you to move on...Uhm sorry to bring it up God but there is nowhere to move on to...there is a big deep sea in my way.

Even if you only have a rudimentary knowledge of the Bible you probably know how this story ended, God made a way. He literally MADE A WAY. He turned the sea into a dry road for the Israelites to walk across, and He held the Egyptians at bay. All they had to do was stay still until God told them to move on. Isn't that easy? But we, ok maybe just me, constantly fail that simply instruction.

Just be still, it's easy right?

Nehemiah 8:11 "The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve.”

You can become overwhelmed just like God's people did. They had gotten back in God's word, they were reading the law and were overwhelmed. Realizing how bad they were. How far they had moved away. But God never moved away, He remained in the same place. He was still there in the Holy day, just waiting for them to be still and honor it, honor Him. How often do we still busy ourselves on Holy days, ignoring Him until everything piles up on us and we are overwhelmed. Then we come broken and weeping. When all we needed to do was be still.

It's easy to get distracted though isn't it. Sitting here typing this I can't help but think about everything I don't have. Worried about how we are going to pay our bills. I watch social media and see everyone else careless and worry free as they plan their holidays... and I just want to know how we are going to pay our electric bill and our rent. But that is precisely why we should be still.

Psalms 37:7 says "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes."

Whether they are succeeding, or being wicked. I do not need to worry about it. I need to just patiently wait on what the Lord has planned for me. Wait patiently. More on that another day, today we are focusing on what that looks like. Not pacing, but being still as any child knows. Not fidgeting but being still it's hard.

Why can we be still as we wait? We know who God is. It should be easy for us, but we forget.

Psalms 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

God is with us, always. He has a plan to protect us, we just have to wait until He tells us to move on. We might not see how, and it might be easier to just lay around crying and wallowing in all the things that we have done. Thinking that it might be a punishment for all of our sins. Looking side to side seeing everyone else succeeding, good people and bad people. Wondering why we are about to be completely washed away, drown by our enemies and fears.

But our only real purpose is not to succeed, it is to worship Christ. To exalt Him. That is our calling.

I need to stop.

I need to be still.

I need to exalt Him, in everything.

Thank you Lord for being with me through it all. You alone are to be praised. Praise the Lord, no matter where I am in my life You are God and I am yours. You are great, and I am blessed to be yours. I will wait here until you tell me to move on.

I will be still.