BE STILL AND KNOW I AM GOD

Psalm 46:10

I love studying and learning new things, especially new things that enrich and enhance my relationship with God.  I want to know all I can so I tend to binge on books and binge on teachers.  I immerse myself in the words and ideas, not wanting to miss anything.  But, I always come to a place where it all gets so jumbled together that I lose clarity.  I have to stop and confess that I have crossed a line and have become a knowledge junkie.  I come to a place where my spirit is vexed rather than calm.  I’ve got three or more books going and I’m checking four or more websites to listen to the day’s meditation by teachers I follow, all from different denominations or faith communities.   Along with all of that I faithfully do my own personal devotions and studies.  I feel like I am running around in all of the trees in the Garden and God is calling out, “Pat, where are you?”  It is at the point I understand the Preacher in Ecclesiastes when he writes, “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”

God says, “Be still and know that I am God.”  I don’t have to run around like a chicken with its head chopped off, chasing after the wind.  I can be still and know all I need to know.  It’s sobering to realize that even good intentions can turn into idolatry.  In trying to know more about God, I ignore His Presence that simply reveals Him to me, Spirit to Spirit. Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day; Elijah sat in his cave until he heard that still small voice of God; David sat in the field looking up at the stars and was filled with awe, and Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, having found that one necessary thing.

Slow me down Lord.  You are faithful to teach me all I need to know about you.  Help me in my quest to know and love you to cease striving, relax, and let go, knowing you are God, and knowing that is all I need to know.  Help me be more like David, as he wrote in Psalm 131:

“O Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not raised too high;

I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;

Like a weaned child is my soul within me.”