God says, “Be still and know that I am God. I will be praised in all the nations; I will be praised throughout the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)

Ponder It.

• How often are you spiritually still?
• How do you struggle with spiritual stillness?
• What do you anticipate from God through spiritual stillness?

Receive It. Grace meets us where we are, but we don’t always meet it face-to-face. We skirt around it or walk over it because we’re too busy, or we fail to focus on it in the stillness. As we still ourselves, it seems obvious that we would experience God’s presence, but that’s only the case when we still ourselves in God’s presence. We must be intentional about the stillness of our lives. We often struggle with stillness, because we don’t seem to find the time to be still. We feel guilty because we’re not still often enough or long enough. We see the shortcomings of our stillness. Or sometimes, we’re too still. We refuse to move out of fear. We all need a slight nudge, whether it’s into stillness or out of the wrong kind of stillness.

When we enter stillness in the presence of God, we experience the consistency of his presence, but our experiences will be different. Because God engages in a relationship with us, he works in our lives in a variety of ways. Sometimes we are filled with his presence and grace over a season in our lives. Stillness doesn’t equate inactivity. We can be engaged with the activities of life but find a stillness deep within, where God gives us his peace and grace to sustain and fuel us. Stillness can also be a moment, when we close our eyes to our surroundings and open our hearts to be surrounded by God and his grace. We can be still when the chaos or noise of life surrounds us, and we can be still when nothing but the sights and sounds of nature surround us. Spiritual stillness begins in our hearts and consumes our minds. But spiritual stillness is always teeming with grace.

Live It. Practice being still during a noisy moment in your day. Whether the noise around you is in what you hear, what you see, or what you’re thinking, get still. Focus on God’s presence. Trust him to pour into you in the quiet place of your soul even among the noise of your surroundings. Thank him for his reliable provision despite your circumstances.