By Shauna Leis

 

 

With a three year old and a six year old, there is not a whole lot of time in our house to be very still and know much of anything except for chaos. Grace, the three year old, can sit quietly for about maybe five minutes at a time before losing attention and going on to find something else to do. Nathan, now, is learning more and more how to be still – but much of it is while watching TV or a movie. It is amazing how he could probably sit for hours mesmerized by the images that flash by on that screen while completely ignoring all that is going on around him, especially mom’s and dad’s voices. 

For awhile, I was having trouble, much like Grace, finding the time to be still and know anything except life screaming by at an incredible pace. Life has a tendency to creep in when you least expect it or rush through like a tornado until we realize that it is almost gone. So, in the midst of the craziness, God taught me that if I would start my day very early with Him and let Him have control, all would begin to make sense in my life. I had to take the time to “Be still and know that He was God.” As a result, I started getting up between 5:00 – 5:30 a.m. to be able to find the time to be still in the midst of all the chaos. I know what you are thinking since I probably had some of the same thoughts as you, but God is so very faithful to provide rest in my soul while my body was so very weary. It was amazing the difference that took place with my soul “rested”!

In this verse above, I love the definition of the word “still”. The Hebrew word used here is the word “raphah” which means to slacken (in many applications – literal or figuratively) – abate, cease, consume, draw (toward evening), fail, (be) faint. There are more definitions to this Hebrew word, but the one that always catches my attention is the word “cease”. God really desires for us to cease whatever else that we are doing and focus our attention squarely on Him. That is the only way we can truly ever know Him the way that He wants us to know Him. Sometimes we let so many other things steal away our attention instead of knowing God the way that we need to. 

Also, I hope that you will look with me at the word “know” in this verse as I think it is critical in our relationship with God. There are many definitions to the Hebrew root word, “yada”, one of which is to ascertain by seeing. Other meanings of this Hebrew root are acknowledge, be aware, for a certainty, comprehend, familiar, friend, come to give/have/take knowledge, have respect, understand, have understanding, and more. God truly longs for us to know Him and see Him in ways that we never have before. Truly knowing Him means becoming so familiar with Him that we can call Him “friend”. You know the difference there, right? There are some people we know as acquaintances and others we truly know as friends.