Modern life is…….? – What word would you add to finish this sentence?
I’m drawn to ‘busy’. It’s been just over 13 weeks since I began as vicar at St Christopher’s and – wonderfully – I feel very settled amongst the church community here and indeed the community more widely.
But feeling ‘busy’ has been a constant too!
Psalm 46 verse 10 says ‘Be still and know that I am God’, and it is a brilliant, often-quoted verse. It’s often used to encourage peaceful reflection, inviting God to come and meet us – and I’m very definitely in favour of that!
But the verse before it, verse 9, pictures peace coming through God’s destructive intervention: ‘He makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields with fire. He says ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ (NIV).
Human beings with all our planning, even seeking power through warfare, need to stop, to be still and know that HE – not us – is God…..the One Who truly is in control of all things, even though we tend to live and act as if we are.
If you’re anything like me you find this attitude coming through whenever you think ‘But I haven’t got time to pray’, ignoring the fact that giving things over to the Supreme Creator of everything is the most sensible approach we can have.
That’s why it’s been so good to focus on prayer at this time of year through the Thy Kingdom Come initiative.
So, whatever your circumstances at the minute, whether in busyness or rest, ‘Be still and know that I am God’, as well as ‘Be still and know that I am God.’