[Certainty In The Uncertainty] Staying Still In Times Of Crisis Sýnishorn

Learning To Be Still

Whenever we face times of crisis, after a while, we take action. After a hurricane, we wait for it to be safe to go outside, and then we take action. We take our shovels, our gloves, and we get to work. We form groups, we join an organization, and we start helping our friends and neighbors. We are used to taking action after times of crisis, natural disasters, or any kind of disaster. However, there are times when all that is required of us is to stay in and be still. Yet we are not used to that.  We are not used to waiting and not doing anything.

The time has come when stillness is necessary. We must be inactive. The help we are used to giving with a hurricane (putting teams together, and then going out and taking action) is actually not helpful. What is required in times of stillness is to stay put and not do the things we are used to doing outside. 

What does it mean to be still? Why is it necessary for us to be still in times of crisis? What God is telling us in this verse of the Bible is to be still, to let ourselves become weak, to let go, to release. We are used to moving, to being strong after times of crisis; however, God is telling us the opposite now. He is telling us to surrender and to trust Him. 

We can read Psalm 46:10 in different translations and it will help us better understand what it means to be still. The Message says, “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.” We are used to being in traffic: it is part of our daily lives. We are even used to being stuck in traffic sometimes. Here God is telling us to stop doing what we are used to doing; to pause our frantic, daily lives; to step out of the craziness, the noise, and the movement for a long time so that we will be able to look at Him. Above everything else that has our attention right now; politics, pandemic, crisis, disease, pain, everything—stop and look at Him.

Psalm 46:10 in the New American Standard Version says, “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” It is telling us to stop making great efforts to achieve or obtain something. To stop trying. To stop and stay still. This goes against everything we have learned to do. The verse is taking us back to the Holy Sabbath in the Ten Commandments. God’s creation needs rest. We need to be able to have times of stillness before God. 

That stillness will yield some deep results in us because the deepest truths are discovered in stillness.