Day 13 - Issue 24
Psalm 46:10a-11a NLT
'Be still, and know that I am God! …The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us.'
If stillness draws us into the prayer space, how are we to avoid the pitfalls of constant distraction? When I first began to explore prayer beyond my intercession, my mind was restless, interrupting all attempts at stillness. I soon learned my mind could not be controlled, however hard I tried. What I lacked was the essential attentiveness to God.
Attentiveness has two distinct meanings. We all recognise the demand to pay close attention to our context; for example, driving a car requires attentiveness to road and traffic conditions, it’s not the time to write a complex rebuttal to a disagreeable proposal or to use a mobile phone. Once in the stillness, therefore, it’s not the stillness itself that is the objective of our prayer. It is the space such stillness has introduced us to. On summer mornings I sit enjoying the swelling sounds of the dawn chorus; I hear a cacophony of birdsong fill the air. However, when attentive, I distinguish blackbird from song thrush, robin from goldfinch. This ability depends on familiarising myself with the different garden bird songs. The attention I’ve given in life to discerning and distinguishing the character and the ways of God is the foundation to establish prayerful attentiveness. I hear, yet I must learn to discern what it is I am hearing. I learn to listen beyond the distractions.
Yet, attentiveness also means attending to the interests and comfort of others. In approaching God, it is not simply that I anticipate or demand that God in some interventionist way attends to my ever-swelling bandwidth of 'needs'. Instead I attend to the ‘needs’ of the Divine. Can I really suggest that an all-powerful God has a ‘need’ of my attentiveness? Regardless, I do. Because God’s will in the earth is expressed through the obedient action of those who are determined to love and serve God. We are literally God’s hands and feet in the earth today.
QUESTION: What do you find hard about being still?
PRAYER: Lord, knowing you lies at the heart of all that your people are and must do.
