Submission and Stillness

Beep...beep...beep...beep.

I didn't want to get up - not THIS morning.  The bed was way too comfortable and my eyes were way too heavy...that is, until my thoughts started barreling out of control.  "What if's?" began whirling in my mind.  Honestly, I have no idea where these thoughts came from, but I knew I had to break away fast, or my day would be spent "What if'ing."  So, I jumped up out of bed...literally...shaking the thoughts off in the covers. 

I headed into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee, and that's when I saw it.  PEACE.  There was no wind outside.  Everything was quiet and still - as still as I have ever seen it.  It was unusual.  I even went downstairs into the sunroom to get a better look.  Normally, the leaves are stirring, at least a little.  But not this morning.  This morning, it seemed everything was unusually calm - unusually still. 

It was a that point that I felt the Spirit - way deep down in my bones - say, "Be still and know that I am God,"  and the brows that had been fixed in a scowl from my earlier thoughts, relaxed.  I grinned.  "Be still and know that I am God."  What an awesome verse for my troubled and tortured mind today.  "Be still, Belinda. and know that whatever is...I AM." 

After staring outside for a little longer, letting that stillness sink in a little deeper, I decided to find out where the verse actually was in reference to the Scripture.  I sat down and searched through the front of my Bible which contains a Cyclopedic Index.  This index is a wonderful tool of study.  It lists tons of words and underneath them, it lists the references where you can find the words in Scripture, based on their use.   

I searched the list for the word "still," and turned to passage after passage.  I wasn't finding it.  I checked "God's presence - Ps. 139:18," "Peace - Jer. 47:6," "Meditating - Ps. 4:4," and a couple of other passage descriptions, but to no avail.  Then, finally, I tried one more reference.  Surely it wouldn't be under this one:  "Submission - Ps. 46:10."  After all, what does submission have to do with being still and knowing that He is God.  Guess what?  Evidently, submission has everything to do with being still and knowing that He is God.

For you see, when we submit our lives to Him - when we choose to obey His command and be still for a moment, recognizing that everything must enter our lives through His LOVING hands in order to reach us - that He has His good in mind for our lives - that He is still in control no matter how out of control things seem to be - the stillness comes, first penetrating our heart, then our mind, then our body - bringing hope and stillness to our weary souls.

Thank You, Jesus, for being the Bearer of peace this morning.  Thank You that when my mind starts reeling with disturbing thoughts, that You aren't disturbed in the least.  You are confident that everything is still under Your control.  Thank You that even if my "what if's," happen today, You still call me to KNOW that YOU are GOD.  Thank You, that I can trust and believe in Your goodness for me, and Your desire for my life to be a testimony for Your glory.  You, indeed, are God, and I choose to rest in that today.