beWould you say you’re a busy person? Do you feel like you meet yourself coming and going? No matter how early you get up in the morning, there just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in your day?

How often do you just stop everything and sit still? I don’t mean that you have to literally not move a muscle. I personally find that next to impossible. Have you been around me? There’s almost always something in motion, and it’s usually my mouth. That’s what seems to happen when you’ve been given the spiritual gift of blab. Ceasing activity becomes a concentrated effort.

What about you? How often do you stop what you’re doing, press the pause button on life, and just drink in a deep breath, take a second to ponder, reflect? I have to be honest, I don’t do this as often as I should.

God wired us to take pauses. It is in those quiet, still moments that He has our undivided attention and truly speaks to us. God told us as much in 1 Kings 19:11-12,

 The LORD said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire came a gentle whisper. “

God rarely shouts at us. He doesn’t even chose to speak loudly. Typically, He speaks in a whisper, because it demands our undivided attention more than shouting or even raising your voice.

One of my favorite scriptures of all time is Psalm 46:10,

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

If you’re a Christian or have read the scriptures for any length of time, you know God will ultimately be exalted in the earth [Isaiah 45:23, Romans 14:11]. But have you backed your way out of that verse any further?

Be still, and know that I am God…”

Do you know He is God? Do you really believe He is who He says He is? Or do you still have questions?

Be still, and know….”

Do you really know, with more than  just your intellect, that He loves you and He’ll do what He says He will do?

Be still…..”

Are you willing to to stop for a minute…. for Him? To cease whatever activity you’re doing and pause for Him?

Be……”

This may be the hardest one of all for many of us, myself included. If it had said do instead of be it would have been easier. Many of us live our lives as human doings instead of human beings. God just wants us to be. After all, He doesn’t love us because of anything we’ve done. He loves us because He created us.

I truly began to grasp this concept the day I became a mom. When I held my firstborn just minutes after he was born I loved him with a fierce love. He hadn’t done anything to earn my love. How could he? He had only been born minutes before. Yet, I loved him with a love that words would fall short in describing. And to think, God loves you and me even more than that. Incomprehensible. Our little pea brains just can’t wrap around that concept.

So, let’s try taking a few minutes to be and see what happens. Will you commit to trying it? If we are still, void of distractions, for a few minutes, we might hear that whisper Elijah heard. And if we hear that whisper? Well, that’s a game changer. Let’s just be and see.