Walk Deeply

As we are pushed deeper into these troubled days, we are also being pushed into a deeper stillness.  This life which is no longer so centered on activities, doing, and hurrying makes many of us uncomfortable.  We are not sure what to do with it, or ourselves.  There is a part of us which has often longed for a slower paced life, but now that it is being thrust upon us, we are not so sure such a life is for us.  Stillness of body speaks of a level of inactivity, or a least a level that is emptied of so much of the stress and pressure of the external world. 

 

What is surely beginning to be experienced by many of us is time in the stillness to become connected again to the inner part of us which suffers when the external stuff permanently takes center stage in our life.  In the Old Testament there is this Word which says, "Be still, and know that I am God..."  (Psalm 46:10)  There is a part of us which does not demand noise, requires no activity, and is unafraid of silence and solitude.  It is the place spoken of by the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthian Christians.  "Do you not know that you are God's temple, and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"  (I Corinthians 3:16)  It is the place of deepest communion with God.

The Temple in Jerusalem was a holy place associated with the revealed presence of God.  If there was no other place of holy presence, it was surely this place.  As we allow the external stillness to wash over us, the still places of the heart will be opened to us.  What we will find in that place is a surprising sense of holy presence within our own spirit.  While it may not be possible to be in a place of worship, there is a holy place within us where the presence of God is revealed and where His Word can be heard.  Walk deeply into that stillness.  Let its silence overwhelm.  Know that the Creator God is present.