just a thought

 Following the lead of my friend, Lori, over at Lori's Wacky World, I have come up with a fun, catchy little title to make this day more, ummmm, exciting.  Because, well, Thursday's are just Thursdays.  But now, here at 58° they are filled with thoughts.  It's not Thursday anymore!  It's Thursday with Thought.  Ridiculous, I know.

Anyway, I have been stuck on a verse lately.  It's one of those that keeps working it's way into my "everywhere".  My podcasts, my reading, my emails from friends, blogs I read.  It's been everywhere.  And since this usually means that I should look into it a bit further 'cause there's likely something there I need to learn, that's what I've done.

Psalms 46:10a - "Be still, and know that I am God!"

In Psalm 46:10a, the author says "be still".  This being still is the hebrew word raphah and it can be translated into "be still, to relax, to sink down, to let drop, to abandon, to refrain, to forsake, to let go, to let alone, to be quiet."
One of my favorite places in my house, is a big, oversized, cushiony, squishy, fluffy, comfy couch.  It is covered with overstuffed, enormous, yet incredibly soft pillows.  When I sit into the couch the pillows reach out and grab hold of me, sucking me further down into the cushions. I imagine this "be still" like my couch.  "Be still".  Sink down.  Let everything else drop.  Let the busyness of thinking and doing alone.  Be quiet, relax.  Be still.

But the verse doesn't end with a comfy, relaxing, carefree break.  There is more.

"and know that I am God!".  The "and know" part of this verse comes from the Hebrew yad'a.  Translated, this word can mean, "to learn to know, to perceive & see, to find out & discern, to know by experience, to recognize, to admit, to acknowledge, to confess, to consider, to be acquainted with, to make oneself known, to be instructed."

While we're being still, we need to also be "knowing" God.  We need to be learning about, finding out, recalling the times that we've experienced Him.  We need to be acknowledging who He is, confessing who He is.  We need to be getting acquainted with Him and allowing ourselves to hear His instructions.  We need to be allowing Him to make Himself known to us.

I think God knows (because He know everything) that we are easily distracted.  Life is busy.  We are busy.  He instructed us to be still, not because we need to slow down and relax and put our feet up because we're overworked.  I think He told us to be still, because He knew we wouldn't put our full attention on Him and Him alone to get more and more acquainted with Him unless we were still.

Oh, but it sounds so wonderful, doesn't it?  Letting the busyness of the day-to-day just be for a moment & spending a moment in complete focus on God.  Spending a moment praising & worshiping, praying, reading His word, learning a bit more about Him, listening.

Today, let's sink in to the Word and allow God to make Himself known to us.