I woke up this morning and the
phrase; “Pause awhile and know that I am God” came to mind. It was a reference
to Psalm 46:10 which says; “Be still and
know that I am God”
I went upstairs to my office,
sat in my favorite chair, and attempted to be still by trying to find out where
the verse was in the Bible. I looked it up by doing a word search on the
computer and found it in Psalm 46:10. I
was thrown off by “pause” instead of “be still”.
I sat back down as I tried to
decide what would be the best translation to read it in from one of my many
versions of the Bible.
I fidgeted as I tried to find
the perfect version of the Psalm to read and God spoke to my spirit; “Just stop! Don’t read anything! Don’t say
anything! Just watch the show!”
I was reminded of a situation
that took place recently while we were on vacation.
It was the Fourth of July
and, as usual, the plan was to sit and watch the fireworks on the dock at the
family cabin with some of our children and grandchildren.
I was sitting on a chair at
the end of the dock waiting in anticipation of the start of the fireworks show.
Cathy was already sitting on another chair with our granddaughter Fallon on her
lap. Our daughter Elizabeth was in another chair holding our grandson Gavin
while her husband Chris sat on the dock behind us holding down his three dogs.
Several times I got up out of
my chair to go back to the cabin to get something else to drink or eat. This
meant that I had to step around the two other chairs, the five other people,
and the three dogs; all in a space that was around two feet wide suspended over
the lake!
In between my trips back and
forth to the cabin, I would cast my fishing line out onto the lake in an
attempt to catch “just-one-more-fish” that day.
I was lovingly asked to sit
down because my attempt to catch a fish was inspiring Fallon to join me and
also attempt to catch “just-one-more-fish”.
The grandchildren were tired,
but instead of them going to sleep, they became fidgety. At every firecracker
or firework they were wiggling, craning, and twisting their entire bodies to
see what was going on.
Note: At the end of our lake every sound reverberates
and echoes around the whole shoreline so they (and I) were extra fidgety. They
needed to simply stop! Don’t read anything! Don’t say anything! And just watch
the show!
For about thirty minutes, it
was constant movement. Grandma
Cathy and Elizabeth didn’t want to let the grandchildren off their laps because
they were on a dock, and it was dark outside, and because they didn’t want the
grandchildren to accidently fall into the lake.
Cathy and Elizabeth spent the
entire thirty minutes of this time of fidgety fireworks laughing so hard that
they were actually crying. It was almost to the point of ridiculous how much
those grandchildren could move. Though, after thirty minutes Gavin did
eventually fall asleep as his sister Fallon continued to fidget as she watched
the fireworks.
Similarly, sometimes, in
order to settle our hearts, and take time to be with Father God, we simply need
to just stop! Don’t read anything! Don’t say anything! Just watch the show!
Psalm 46:10 says;
“Be still
(cease, forsake, idle, slack, stay, be
still, be slothful) and know
(recognize,
understand, observe, recognize;
declare) that I am God;
Eugene
Peterson’s Message Version translates Psalm 46:10
“Step out of
the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God
above politics, above everything.”
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996,
2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson
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