Prayer to “Be Still and Know that I Am God” Psalm 46:10

To have peace in a noisy world requires meditation and being still.  Here is a prayer for you using Bible verses to help you say, “Be still my heart, be still my soul so I can rediscover that I am still in love with my Creator.”

Prayer for Stillness

Lord, I need to be still.  I’m praying for stillness in this noisy world.  Today is a day created for taking time to focus on You, to quit moving about …to be still.  Stillness, as opposed to being scattered and all over the place.

Stillness instead of rushing everywhere.  Being still to get in touch with myself, with mother earth, …with Your creation.  Stillness to see the others, their goals, struggles, pain, losses and victories.  Being still to see where I am whole, where I am broken, and to evaluate my relationship with You and others.  So still that a bird might land on my hand.

In your scriptures, Lord, we have discovered the call to stand still.  In the exodus, with his people moving about in uncertainty, Moses spoke:  Do not be afraid, stand still and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish.”  (Exodus 14:13)

And then Lord, later Moses tells his people to “stand still so that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”  (Numbers 9:8)  Like those old scattered Israelites we must learn to stand still in the difficult times.

And Lord, we recall the words of Naomi to Ruth when she instructs Ruth to “stand still for a while that I may make known the word of the Lord.”  It is in this stillness that we can best discover Your direction for our lives.  (Ruth 3:18)

Lord, we have read about Job and seen but a mirror of ourselves.  For so long he defends himself and then God speaks.  “Hear this Job, stand still and consider the wondrous works of God .”  If only we would stand still and see the imagination of God in creation.  (Job 42:14)

And dear God, it is stunning to read that You have restrained Yourself and stood still on our behalf.  “For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained Myself. “ (Isaiah 42:14)  That You, O Lord, even see a time for stillness and restraint  of Your very Own self speaks to us of the importance of stillness.

And we note this, dear Lord, old Elijah did not hear from You in a strong wind, nor an earthquake, nor in a fire either…but in a still small voice.  Lord, teach us to look for You in the still small voices of life.  (Kings (19:10f)

And Lord, this wonderful instruction continues in the New Testament too.  Nothing changes.  Jesus instructs His disciples to go before Him to the other side of the sea.  Meanwhile, Jesus went into the hills to be still…to pray.

A while later Jesus catches up with His disciples.  It is here that Jesus actually walks on the waves, and the disciples were terrified and thought Jesus to be a ghost.  They needed to be …still.  (Matt. 14)

Lord, nothing seems so clear as when Lazarus dies and Martha runs to Jesus to scold Him for not getting there sooner to prevent her brother’s death.  “Lord if only You had gotten here sooner our brother would not have died.”  But Lord, I’m guessing that when you called Lazarus out of that tomb and he came out that Martha got real still!  (John 11:6f)  Please teach us to be still until You get finished with your work.

On one noisy day, with the crowd shouting,” Crucify Him,” there was one who was still.  That was Pilate’s wife, who sent word to Pilate to “have nothing to do with this righteous man’s death for I have suffered much over Him today.”  Through the noise she had been still and God had come to her in a dream.  (Matt. 27:19)

And Lord, I know resurrection morning is a lesson to get beyond our preconceptions, to be still…to see God’s reality and not our own.  Peter and the other disciple rushed to the tomb and saw that it was empty and rushed right back home.  If only they had stayed, been still…the Gospel story might have been written quite differently!

Only Mary stayed at the tomb as they ran away!  She had come to anoint Jesus’ body.  Her mind just couldn’t be still as it raced with thoughts of her Lord’s cruel crucifixion.  She saw Jesus but thought Him to be only the gardener.  She just couldn’t be still until He said “Mary.”  Nobody spoke her name like her Lord.  Her mind stilled and her focus cleared.  Be still Mary.  And you…be still.   Amen

Copyrignt Dr. Emmett Diggs 2013.  All rights reserved.