“He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.'” — Psalm 46:10
Time To Be Still
You’re bored, huh? The COVID-19 outbreak has put our world on pause, especially the sports world. Usually, in our society today, there’s so much going on — games, practices, family, school, work, a social life. Pretty much all that is nonexistent right now, though. The TV guide is actually rather depressing on weekends these days.
As Christians, this can be an offseason for us. Athletes get an offseason every year. It’s usually a time spent mostly in weight rooms — making ourselves bigger, faster and stronger. Once the season starts, there’s really not much time for an athlete to focus on just themselves and improve individually.
But while athletes get an offseason every year, Christians, as people, never really do. There’s always something for everybody all the time. But, again, that’s all on hold right now.
Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” God wants us to get rid of distractions and just pause to take time to focus on only Him. We’ve all been advised to stay home and some of us may not even be working at the moment. During all this turmoil, the silver lining is that God has gifted us a time to just be still — to exalt Him.
Many of us have time to waste and nowhere to go, maybe for the first time since childhood. There’s always been an excuse to skip or rush quiet time with the Lord. Now there’s not as much to hurry to. You can be still to really dive into God’s Word, not just skim a scripture on your phone. Pray in detail, not just about the first few worries that come to mind.
A coach reiterates how important the offseason is. There’s even the cliché about how the offseason is really where championships are won. It’s what athletes do when no one is looking that makes them successful in their sport.
Christians, too, need to shut the door and close the world out to achieve the best relationship with God they can. Joshua 1:8 says, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
Like memorizing the playbook and working out in the offseason, the author of Joshua is telling us the way to succeed and prosper is to know God’s Word, and in order to know God’s Word you have to study it constantly.
When the season starts, athletes still practice and improve, but not as much as they did during their offseason. When sports are back on TV and we can finally leave our house again, we should still open our Bibles. However, we know as humans we’ll put other things before a longer quiet time. There will be something to do that we deem more important at the time.
Now is a rare occasion with fewer excuses. Now is a time to be still.
— Dekota Gregory
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