Be Still and Know

During the early years of my adult spiritual life the most difficult lesson for me to learn came from Psalm 46:10: “Be still and know that I am God” and it still gives me trouble. My mind is always generating thoughts that distract me from my quiet listening time in Prayer.

In the formative years of my spiritual life my prayers were all one sided. I told God what I wanted and said Amen. I wondered why my prayers were never answered. My problem, and it was MY problem, was that I was not paying attention when God was trying to answer.

I was a member of Hyde Park Christian church and was asked to teach the Jr. High boys Sunday school class. One series of lessons was on prayer and I was ill equipped to teach it. I met with the pastor and he gave me some books including a small one called: “Prayer A Conversation With God” and I went home to read. I taught the class using that little book. It said that prayer is a conversation and conversations are two way sharing. What a concept!

The last chapter was entitled: “Before you say amen, shut up and listen.”  That chapter changed my prayer life and the rest of my life. My call from God to the ministry came from my listening for that still small voice. The most difficult part for me was that being still in my head and truly listening. It was worth the discipline to finally have my prayers answered and develop a relationship with God during a two way conversation.