Be Still and Know that He is God

Loves me, loves me not...

Sometimes God just wants us to “Be still and know that He is God.”

I don’t know about you, but being still fits right up there in my mind with being patient, which has never been one of my strong points.  Throughout the course of my walk with the Lord, I have learned *not* to pray for patience (for that brings trials and tribulations of which I have had my fill!), but to pray instead that God helps me to utilize the patience that He has already blessed me with.

It is not an easy thing to do.  There is a prayer that my mom once taught me as a child, it is called the Serenity prayer.  I guess it is supposed to bring serenity to whatever situation one is praying about it.

“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next.
Amen.”

I realize more and more that I struggle with things that I need to accept that I can’t change.  Acceptance doesn’t come easy, especially if it is something that is dear to my heart.  I fume and I fume and I fume against it until I realize that fuming is fruitless, the situation doesn’t and hasn’t changed and there is nothing I can do in and of myself to change a situation.  I believe this is when God wants you to give it to Him.  Let it go.  There are certain things that we were not made to carry.  Jesus said,:

"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:30)

Sometimes we have a habit of carrying over more than we were made to carry and when that happens we feel it in many different aspects of our lives in ways we were not meant to.  Emotionally, physically, spiritually.  Are you feeling emotionally exhausted?  Physically tired?  Spiritually weary?  Take a good hard look at your life and the situations in it and see what it is you should be turning over to the Lord.

I realize for myself that there are times that I am running against someone else’s tide.  If you are not careful the person who is drowning will unintentionally pull you under with them in their fight to survive. Be wise, be cautious, be careful.

Accepting the things I cannot change is one of the hardest things I have had to do.  I’m stubborn to a fault.  When I want something, I’m like a dog with a bone.  Pulling that bone away from me is not an easy thing to do.  I’ll hold on to it with everything within me, until God shows me no other recourse, but to let go.  Even if in the process He takes my teeth with him, still attached to the bone…

I was talking to someone this week , letting them know of this situation that I had let go of and was struggling coming to terms with, a situation not of my own doing or choosing, one that I simply “had to accept was something I could not change.”  The person I was talking with said to me, “Remember, the bullet comes out where it went in. It is good that you know that you were shot.”

Honestly, I don’t know what hurt more  - “the bullet going in,” or my allowing the “bullet to exit.”   I suppose allowing the bullet to remain would have done more damage than enduring the painful removal…  Only with its removal can come healing.  I have to accept that there are things I cannot change.  Even with having the wisdom to know the difference between the things I can and the things I can’t – still sometimes I stubbornly try to change them.  God brought me to a point where the emotional pain was so bad I simply said, “Okay, give me the dang knife – I’m going to cut the bullet out myself!!”

“Weeping may come in the night, but joy comes in the morning.” (Psalms 30:5)

What are you holding on to? What do you refuse to let go of?  What are you struggling with? Perhaps the Serenity prayer is for you too?  It’s not an easy prayer to act upon.  I don’t let go of anything I love, easily.  But unless you let go of something, you cannot receive something else because your hands are already full.

It may hurt to let go of something you’ve been holding to so tightly, so fiercely.  But sometimes that is exactly what God wants you to do.  Let it go.  Let go.  Release it.  If you have to pray the prayer over and over again do it.

“God help me.  I can’t let go on my own accord.  I don’t have the strength to.  I don’t want to.  I don’t want to let go.  I know it is something I cannot change.  I know I have to accept it.  But I don’t have the strength or will to do it myself.  So I need your help. Help me to accept the fact that I cannot change this situation.  Give me the courage to release it entirely to YOU.  It is only with your strength I can do this.  I am releasing my will and my hold on this and giving it over to you.  In Jesus precious name. Amen.”

That’s what I call taking the knife and getting that bullet out yourself.  Trusting that God will help maneuver your hand so that it will be steady enough to do it, then slowly, the healing will occur. It may not be over night.  But this is where we know that God is saying to us:

“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

He’s got this – you gave it to Him.  Don’t take it back.  Don’t re-hash it. Don’t stress over it.  It is not yours anymore- you gave it to Him.  You released it. Let it go.

Healing takes time. Be patient with yourself.  One day, you will look back on a tiny little scar and perhaps remember what it was that caused that.  At that point God will have moved you on to greener pastures.  He has a tendency to allow us to look back and see how far we’ve come.

Once you have emptied your hands of what you were clutching so tightly God can fill it with what He truly has for you.  You never would have been able to be at a point of receiving if you hadn’t let go of what you were holding on to.

“I can’t!” You say.

“You can!” He says.  “Trust me.  Believe in me. Know that I have your best interest at heart. Turn it over to me and let me show you what I have in store for you.”

It’s time to trust Him.

“Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart, lean NOT to your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5)