Stephen W: In Stillness with God
-By Stephen W
Recently, someone asked me a simple question: “What has been happening in your life lately?”
In that moment, I didn’t know what to say. I was stunned and had no answer. My days have felt like a cycle—wake up, go to work, come home, scroll through social media, fall asleep, and repeat. Week after week, month after month, this routine left me with little time to pause and reflect. I realized I hadn’t stopped to notice what God might be trying to reveal to me this past year.
The verse then came to mind:
“Be still, and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10
This reminded me of an exercise I once did in college where we practiced being still in God’s presence. We sat quietly on the lawn outside my dorm for 20–30 minutes. The goal was simple but incredibly difficult: to sit in silence and think only of God. No distractions!
As I tried, my mind filled with noise. I pictured myself standing in a blank white room when suddenly text bubbles floated across the space: exams, studying, anxieties, weekend plans, what to eat tomorrow, relationships, sleep. Each thought distracted me from focusing on God. It took days of prayer to surrender each thought one by one before I could finally experience a moment of true silence with Him.
Looking back, that exercise put things into perspective. Just as it was hard for me to be still then, it is still hard now. My daily routines and constant distractions leave little room for prayer and reflection this past year. Yet stillness prayer has shown me that slowing down before God is more than just resting—it’s an act of repentance. It’s choosing to set aside noise and return my attention to Him.
Isaiah 30:15 says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”
I’m not fully there yet, but I want to keep learning to be still with God. My prayer is that you, too, might find time to pause, quiet your thoughts, and simply sit in His presence. Even a few minutes of stillness can open the door to hear His voice more clearly.
A fitting encouragement for me as I've recently read about "centering/contemplative prayer", which is more or less the exercise you described with sitting quietly and focusing only on God for 20-30 min. Pragmatically, I think reports say that people who meditate in general have an increase in concentration, attention span, mood, and self-control. Spiritually, I think this type of prayer would connect more with Jesus as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, Stephen!
What a simple but profound reminder of the gospel--that repentance is needed for the busyness and distractedness of our minds that push God to the backburner or to a compartment of our day. Our salvation is demonstrated by repentance to God and rest in God, and our spiritual strength comes first from quietness in our spirits (I imagine a humble spirit turned towards God) and trust in God.
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