“I dare say you will think it a very easy thing to stand still, but it is one of the postures which a Christian soldier learns not without years of teaching. [Stillness] is one of the most difficult to learn under the Captain of our salvation.”- Charles Spurgeon
“Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”- Exodus 14:13-14 (NIV)
Ann Voskamp moves on in Chapter 7 of WayMaker as she stresses that our battle is to keep still. While God battles for us. In addition, to fully see a situation, the lay of the land, and the way forward necessitates stillness. Because when nothing agitates the soul, it’s possible to experience a revelation.
Therefore, Ann applies this to her own journey:
“In my stillness God moves. Maybe if I’d actually be still and not struggle to be God, I wouldn’t struggle to trust God. It’s only endless trust in God that can end fear. . . . Your strength is your stillness — because your stillness says you’re trusting Him still. Strange paradox — how stillness is the first step of a Red Sea Road.” (emphasis Ann’s)
Most significantly, Ann notes, stillness births an attentiveness beyond our own questioning of God. To the questions God is asking us. Consequently, Ann posits, perhaps she’d be less likely to question God’s ways if she began to attend to, and answer, God’s questions.
So, if, like Ann, you locate the answer to God’s questions, you locate where you’re headed. And the location of your head in relation to your soul. Hence, Ann concludes:
“Life is about location, location . . . and attention, attention. . . . Attentiveness to the Word-wind. Do more than listen to your life — listen to your Lord. . . . His love is like a rising river of kindness, breaching banks, flooding into everything. Attentiveness to what is happening around us is a way of being attentive to God with us.”
Today’s question: How hard do you find it to stand still? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “A shroud of cloud with flaming blaze”
