Be Still Before The Lord and Wait Patiently For Him


Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him: Bible Bullet Journals for Christian Women and Teen Girls 8x10 inches, 132 pages (Bible Verse ... Christian Floral Journal Series) (Volume 2):
THU EP Reflection 090320 (Ps 37: 1-18; Job 16,17)
Ps 37: 7 “Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him…”
I sat for a while and meditated on this. I sensed a great amount of faith needed as you are told to be still and wait. The author is sure that it will be worth the wait. I turned to Thomas Merton, an American Trappist monk, and writer to learn from his understanding of God’s relationship with silence. His 1st quote I consulted was: “The speech of God is silence; His word is solitude.” He also wrote that in silence, God ceases to be an object and becomes an experience. Be Still! Is God encouraging us to be comfortable with silence? To be prepared to experience God? I am intrigued and want to venture more in discovery… Be Still and wait patiently… In this modern world, it may not be well viewed in a fatalistic understanding where passive inaction reign. The truth is, something is really happening by faith because we place our belief in God who is the author of life even before anything happens. We believe and God makes things happen.
Be still… don’t rely on your intelligence, your well-designed plans, wealth, insurance and any other pillar of world class safety. This isn’t inaction: Be still and wait patiently before the Lord. You are already praying and placing your trust in God! The Bible is full of examples of those who waited patiently. Hannah comes to mind. She waited in the temple, she prayed with tears and eventually her prayers were heard and answered. She had asked for a son even though she was barren, and in return she vowed to give the son back to God for the service of God. Samuel was born (1 Samuel 1: 20). Silence was her loudest prayer. The word ‘Be still’ is translated in Hebrew [damam]= Rest. The Bible uses this word too many times: REST! BE STILL IN GOD.
I was drawn to Job’s experiences in Chapter 17: “My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.” Even so, in the middle of such hopeless situation resides this voice from God: “REST IN THE LORD, WAIT PATIENTLY FOR HIM” Who wouldn’t identify with the sighs of Job? Our situations may have been different but in life we get to know such feeling of brokenness, of hopelessness and this word of God is timely. It tells us to rest…
It tells us to let go of these feelings and to trust God. We need patience! I don’t know about you but I still struggle with patience. I want results now! I guess I am a work in a progress. I want to learn to listen to these amazing wisdom treasures in God’s word. I want to be acquainted/intimate with God in silence. Every Sunday after the liturgy of the word of God, we meditate and pray… We should take a moment to be in the Lord’s presence in silence. Even though our minds tend to wonder, we need to learn to be still and contemplate on God’s goodness and immense love in our lives. I can’t wait to find out what we discover in silence, perhaps a hunger for God.
Thomas Merton tells us what he discovered as a Trappist monk, being in silence regularly: “Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say.” In silence, the Holy Spirit is allowed to speak to our inner lives, perhaps to challenge our attitudes/ behaviors? I am also learning: Often enough, what people say define our image of them! This simply should not happen; we should know that none is perfect and our expectation of other people’s behaviors should not be severe if we haven’t considered our own. Merton wrote in another place that: “Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and disorders in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate the injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed, but hate these things in yourself, not in another.” Meeting God in silence can help us confront the log in our inner lives rather than the speck in someone else’s eye.
This word “Rest” or “be still” is God’s favorite: “Be still and know that I am God.” Ps 46: 10. “The Lord will fight for you and you have only to be silent.” Ex 14:14. “Let all the earth keep silence before him.” Hab. 2:20. I am convinced we need this silence way more, so we can discover the treasures of God’s wisdom; the deeper healing of Christ Jesus in our inner lives; to experience the beauty of godly life in solitude and silence where the world’s preoccupations and attachments no longer have a hold on us. That world is where I want to be!
Amen.

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