In this world we are required to be many things we are required to do many things. We are required to function in many varying capacities especially if we are women and especially if we are married and especially if we are married with children. In this world busyness is a requirement. Quite recently I came across this quote:

The greatest enemy of good thinking is busyness. John C Maxwell. 

I would love to “coin” my own which is:

Busyness is a delusion concocted by our brain that makes us feel like we are relevant and accepted. 

Another saying not sure who said this:

“All of man’s problems come from his inability to sit still.” 

Sitting still speaks to us being still as God instructed us to do in Joshua but it also speaks to our mind and our preoccupations.

My second son reminds me so much of me while I was growing up. The description I am about to share, admittedly followed me into my adult years, which is why I have to sit him down quite frequently and remind him about this shortcoming and to encourage him to practice stillness. Not just sitting still but stillness that encapsulates his whole being, resting and quieting his mind.

So what am I talking about here?

I am talking about our (both of us, mother & son) shared need to have our way. To be impulsive, to not think things through, to not recognize that consequences are more important than decisions, another quote I came across from Dr. Myles Munroe. Consequences are more important than decisions bottom line. I know this is not unique to us. I know that these far from ideal behavioral patterns are a part of the delusional busyness that we create in our lives.

So he recently got caught up in this idea of trading items. He has an IPhone, a working phone that he wanted to trade for a Samsung Galaxy. Now if you are familiar with phones and how comprehensively useful they can be… Your first question would be who trades a Samsung for an IPhone. You might say well some persons desire to have an IPhone so… But in my opinion a Samsung is by far a more user friendly and more comprehensive in its operations and like I said ease of use than an IPhone and I have an IPhone. So I’m not going to get distracted here but essentially I could see clearly he was going to be the brunt of someone’s selfishness. I could see right through that trade. I remember saying to him in the past if it’s not broken do not fix it. I think I reminded him as much as I could without being overbearing but he was not taking the hint and so I left him. To cut a long story short he went out of his way even when there were signs and FEELINGS that pointedly said “if it’s not broken do not fix it”. He got the phone and was not able to use it which left him feeling rather silly and suffering from his need to be impulsive, from his need to fix that which was not broken.

I believe having learned the lesson God stepped in and miraculously he was able to get back his phone because the guy started experiencing difficulties and was very willing to return the phone. When God intervenes we should get it and hopefully learn the lesson.

Why would God tell us to be still, so many verses on the word still.

 Psalms 46:10 – Be still, and know that I [am] God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Psalms 37:7 – Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

Exodus 14:14 – The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace (be still).

Mark 4:39 – And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Psalms 127:2 – [It is] vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: [for] so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Psalms 91:1-16 – He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High will rest under the shadows of the almighty.

The word still and rest are interchangeable in the Bible and I am saying if there are so many instances that the bible tells us to either be still or to rest it must mean something.
It must mean that in his Kingdom busyness is nonexistent. If God tells us to be still, to rest it can only be because it is good for us. In Satan’s world we are kept busy but in God’s kingdom we are told to be still, to rest in him.

As Christians it is imperative for us to quiet down so we can hear our father’s voice.

Hear our father instructing us and telling us our next move.

• Our father telling us if it is not broken my beloved then it is not necessary to fix it.
• Our father telling us that when we worry oftentimes we are back in the world being kept busy.
• Our father telling us that when we get antsy and annoyed it’s because we are not being still but we are being kept busy by those who fall prey to the enemies lies.
• Our father telling us that when we feel like we are needing to do more it’s the delusion that we live in that tells us it makes us more accepted and that we fit in.
• Our father telling us that when we take our eyes off him we are going down a road that lead to destruction and therefore we need to pause, we need to be still and become acutely aware of our surroundings and the things we are up against.
• Our father telling us to “rest in me and I will give you the peace that surpasses all understanding”.
• Our father telling us to be still, I have this covered just trust in me. 

Listen up my beloved says God. Busyness is not a part of my kingdom. While you are in the world, Satan’s world you will come up on many obstacles, many mountains, many challenges, many trials, many persecutions, many people who will not see life in a way that I have designed it for you but… I need you to understand that I can give you rest but:

• Only if you decide to be still.
• Only if you decide to rest and seek protection under my wings.
• Only if you find that secret place where you can abide in me hidden away from this world, away from the busyness used to distract you from me.

That is my enemy, your enemy’s number one goal. To keep you from looking straight ahead at me so when life’s storms come and try to pass you by and knock you over, drowning you, pelting you with brute force, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO STAND, and it can try.

Are you going to allow it? It is up to you… If you keep busy you will not see it coming, you will not recognize it until it has overcome you. But I offer you the opportunity to not give in to the tempest but you can only realize that opportunity when you get to a place of stillness where you can stand strong. You stand strong because you rested in me. You stand strong because your eyes are fixed straight ahead on me unconcerned about the happenings around you and you will know that when you are still and yielded to me, I will fight the battles and you will stand.