stillness vs. striving
Have you ever been in a season or situation (maybe you’re in one right now) where you were asking some of these questions:
“God, why?”
“God, how?”
“God, when?”
Or maybe even… “God what do you need me to do?”
I’m sure we’ve all been there at one point or another, I was recently and in these times I constantly go over and over all of the questions and then feel like maybe I’m not doing enough to speed up the process, fix the situation, or make everything fall into place. In this past situation I kept asking God and overthinking and felt like I wasn’t getting a clear answer on what to do when finally all I heard was “be still…”, an answer that hadn’t occurred to me in my striving.
If I had to define stillness it would be this:
Stillness is a knowing that He will do what He said He will do, that He is always good and always faithful.
The actual definition of stillness is a state of freedom from storm or disturbance.
In Matthew 14 when Peter walked on water Jesus didn’t stop the storm, He simply said “come”, but he had to keep his eyes on Jesus. He sees what you’re going through (the storm), but if you focus on that and take your eyes off of Him then you will start to drown. Stay fixed on Him, He simply says “come” and He will take care of the rest.
Stillness does not equal inactivity. “Come” is an action. He was saying to come to Him. Faith in action. Worship is an act of faith. Praise is an act of faith. Prayer is an act of faith. Centered around Him. When you keep your eyes on Him you can trust that He will lead.
In Matthew 14:32 it shows that Jesus will bring you back to the boat and command the wind and waves to be still. If you try to do it in your abilities (striving) you’re limiting Him, but if you allow God to move then you will live in the exceedingly and abundantly.
Striving: make great efforts to achieve or obtain something.
If I had to define striving it’d be something like this: when I try to take control and hope that God honors it and somehow makes it all work out. Basically doing what Peter did, taking your eyes off of Jesus.
My anchor Scripture in the stillness has been this:
“Surrender your anxiety! Be silent (still) and stop your striving and you will see that I am God. I am the God above all the nations, and I will be exalted throughout the whole earth.” -Psalms 46:10 (TPT)
I have to remember, He is God. He has it all worked out. The battle is not mine, it’s His (2 Chronicles 20:15). As long as I keep my eyes on Him, He will lead me step by step, moment by moment. If what I’m desiring is of Him then He will work it out, if not, I don’t want it anyways because I know He has so much better for me.
If you remember in the story of Mary and Martha, Martha was striving to make sure everything was prepared and perfect, whereas Mary was just sitting as Jesus’ feet and He said “Mary has discovered the one thing most important by choosing to sit at my feet”. –Luke 10:42 (TPT)
You can trust that by sitting at His feet and loving Him, everything else will fall into place. He is the most important.
This Scripture is also such a gift if you relate to this is any way:
“I am standing in absolute stillness, silent before the one I love, waiting as long as it takes for Him to rescue me. Only God is my Savior and He will not fail me.” – Psalms 62:5 (TPT)
– “waiting as long as it takes” … you have to wait on Him. Be still. Don’t try to jump ahead of Him. HE WILL NOT FAIL YOU.
There is a line in the song “House on a Hill” by Amanda Cook that rings in my heart constantly (I highly encourage you to check out the song if you haven’t):
“…in the stillness, things have a way of working out.” -House on a Hill
I feel like this blog has a lot of random nuggets but I pray that you will allow God to still you and let Him lead you, that your heart will be rid of striving and perfect peace will settle in. That when He says “come” you will know what to do, and when He says “be still”, you will know what to do. Be patient, He will work it all out…it’s impossible for Him to fail.
