Isaiah 30:15
In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.
We are taught by society to constantly be busy and always immersed in doing. We are taught that our worth is found in busyness. We push and push, and force ourselves into doing even when our spirit and body can no longer cope.
Why are we so afraid to enter the place of stillness and non-doing with God? Why are we afraid of being? Are we not tired of living under constant stress and fear? Fear that we will miss out. Fear that we will face scarcity. Fear of the unknown future. And now, fear of how the global pandemic, COVID-19 will affect us.
And yet we learn from nature that all life needs rest and incubation. All God’s creation takes time below the surface to reconnect to its nature. With the changing of the seasons, nature experiences an awakening and newness of life. In non-doing the trees and the animals recoup through the winter to blossom in the spring with newness and vitality. They emerge ready to gift the world with their radiance.
God does not expect us to function like machines that never tire. He has given us the gift of rest. The gift of tranquility and serenity. Because it is in rest and stillness that we get to meet Him more intimately than anywhere else.
In this worrisome period, we are encouraged to cease doing and enter into a state of being. Being in God’s presence. Experiencing and giving His love to others in ways that we have not done before. And allowing God to renew us physically and spiritually so that we can stand in the gap for an ailing world in need of His restoration.
When worry fills your mind and when fear comes upon you like an overwhelming tide, remember to be still and know that He is God. Your salvation and your strength will emerge from this place of surrender to God’s will and trust in His power to save.
Psalms 46: 10
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.Psalm 30: 5
Weeping may last through the night, but Joy comes with the morning.
