Be Still.

Cane Creek Friends Meeting

Good morning….

Prayer….

This past Sunday Rhonda and I made the trip to Hood Swamp Friends Meeting in Goldsboro. We were invited to make the trip from Snow Camp to Hood Swamp as they are in need of guest speakers to fill the void left from the retirement of their Pastor. They asked and I gratefully accepted the invitation. This was a wonderful experience and I thank God for the opportunity.

The trip took right at two hours and of course there are a dozen or more ways to get from one to the other. (But let me add right here that there is only ONE WAY to heaven, AMEN?).

So, as with any other trip we may go on, we plan out a route to get from point A to point B.

From our home when we travel east, google maps will direct us through Raleigh but we would normally take a different route because of the busy, hectic, fast paced, traffic going through Raleigh (as I am sure you know all too well).

Well, we decided to go through Raleigh anyway being that it was early on Sunday morning, and I made the comment to Rhonda, “but what about the church traffic?”. Now wouldn’t that be a nice problem to have to deal with.

Except for the exit at the mega church at 12:01 PM, I don’t believe church traffic is causing many issues these days.

This brings us to our message this morning.

Psalm 46:10 – Be Still.

“Be still, and know that I am God:

I will be exalted among the heathen,

I will be exalted in the earth.”

Speaking at Hood Swamp, the Lord placed this verse on my heart.

But I questioned God, “why does a small community church need to be told of the importance of being still?” Raleigh, yes, but Hood Swamp (which happens to be a small church in a quiet community) or Cane Creek Friends (which we also fits into this category). So, why Lord of all the teachings available in Your word should we be spending these next 20 minutes or so talking about being still?

We know what it is, we know what it means, we know what it is like to be still. Or do we? I believe for the most part that we do, but I also believe that we need to remind ourselves on a regular basis “to be still and know that God is God”.

THERE IS A STORY OF AN OLD FARMER. HE LIVED IN THE COUNTRY. He had a gold pocket watch that was very old. The old farmer’s watch was very dear to him. His grandfather gave him the gold watch. The farmer had lost his watch in the barn. He looked for several days. Finally, in desperation the farmer asked his neighbors to help him. He was very upset, and all his friends gathered to help him. They looked for many hours and the gold watch eluded them. They all went home. That evening a young man knocked on his door and said: SIR, CAN I LOOK FOR YOUR GOLD WATCH? The old man said it is hopeless but if you would like to go ahead. The young man spent several hours in the barn. He came running out of the barn and knocked on the farmer’s door. I HAVE FOUND THE GOLD WATCH; I HAVE FOUND IT… The farmer inquired HOW? HOW DID YOU FIND IT? The boy said it was easy. I laid down in the barn and I got real still until everything settled down. It was so quiet in the barn… I HEARD THE OLD WATCH TICKING AND I WALKED OVER AND PICKED IT UP.

The boy told the old man, sometimes in life you just have to listen… get still and listen…

The April edition of “Best Life” magazine had an article titled “Why I need to be alone.” The author, Peter Nichols, told the story of how he began to understand what it meant to be alone. He discovered this during a failed attempt to sail across the Atlantic Ocean, from England. He said in the article.

“During those weeks at sea, I don’t remember thinking deeply about who I was or my few problems in any conscious or analytical way. But a clearer—and disappointing—sense of myself emerged. I was then already in my early 30s, but I felt I had finished nothing, accomplished nothing. Looking back now, that voyage marked the beginning of resolve, the beginning of finishing things I started—the beginning of real industry in my life.” (BL, APR 06)

It doesn’t take an attempt to sail the Atlantic to be still, but it does take willpower.

For me being still is a challenge. You could say that I have always had “stillness” issues. When I was a child, I began to think that my name was B. Still.

Many of us have “stillness issues”, we are always on the move. We must be doing something; we can’t sit still.

Psalm 46:10 is a goal that I think we should strive for. It stands as a wise guideline for how to live a Godly life. And it tells us to “Be still”.

Stillness to me, offers a time of focus and clarity.

Stillness and solitude give us the opportunity to examine ourselves and discover who we are and allow God to mold us into the person he desires for us to be.

We can find the time to be still by getting up earlier, so we have time to spend being quiet. Find a place that is away from the traffic, the people, and the noise. That could be here, out in the field, or maybe even our back porch. Just take your Bible, maybe your journal, and spend some time simply being still.

My grandfather (York Teague) was a Quaker minister. I never had the opportunity to hear him preach, but I have spoken with my family about him and his time as a minister. One of the things that I was told about my grandfather was that he had a place on the farm that he would go “to be still” and prepare for the Sunday morning message as well as other times when he needed to be closer to God seeking wisdom and guidance.

Moses did this, Jesus did this!

“In returning and rest shall you be saved; In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).

We say, but Lord, it’s so hard to be still with all that’s happening in our world. The internet is calling me; she lures me to her side with promises of news, current events, politics, entertainment, sports, weather, and a whole host of other facts. It’s important that I stay up-to-date and improve my scope of knowledge, isn’t it?