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The other day I was taking my morning jog around the lake near my home. I was breathing heavy and listening to my feet pound the pavement, step after step, talking with God as I went. I became transfixed by the glass-like surface of the lake. It reflected the green trees and the blue sky and sparkled with the morning sunlight. It was a picture of peace.

Then the Lord impressed upon me the same words that He spoke to David so many years ago, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). Just the words I needed to hear. Words that God is probably speaking to me continually, but words that I only hear when I am still.

Learning to Be Still

At times my life is anything but still. Perhaps you can relate. Family members with competing needs. Relationships to nurture and to maintain. Work demands. Ministry commitments. Errands to run. Projects to finish. Mail. Phone calls. Pages. E-mail. Sometimes it's too much! These are all good things, but they become too much when I forget to take a step back and focus on what's most important ñ God.

If I've learned anything about the spiritual life I've learned that when I'm busy and distracted I miss God. If I'm hurrying, anxious, or under pressure it's hard to hear God. That's because God usually speaks in a still, small voice. It's like listening to my wife while anxiously reading through my stack of mail. I'm not giving her my attention. I'm not hearing her or connecting with her. So I've learned to put down the mail and look into her eyes when we need to talk!

It's the same with God. When we're rushing around or overcommitted. He's there. He's always there! He's loving us and guiding us and blessing us all the time, but we have to connect with Him to take it in. We have to slow down the pace of our lives and our minds in order to tune into Him, sense His presence, and receive what He offers. We have to leave enough space in our schedules and enough grace in our expectations of ourselves to have the time and the energy and the presence of mind to stay in contact with God.

The Real Reason for Being Overstressed

There are reasons why many people have trouble being still. And they're probably not what you think. When I ask harried, pressured people why they don't slow down they often say things like:

• "I can slow down when my kids grow up."
• "My job requires these long hours and stresses me out all the time."
• "Life moves fast these days and I have to keep up."
• "I'll have more time for God when I retire."

Family activities, job stress, living in the Internet Age, or any of the other stress we experience are not what keeps people from being still in their souls. It's choices! We chose our lifestyles and attitudes. And many chose to be overstressed because there's a price to pay for being still and slowing down the pace of your life. You get less done. You miss out on opportunities. You don't get high on adrenalin. You might even get depressed (if you've been defending against depression by getting keyed up). And at first you may not feel as significant or as important.

It is worth it though. Because when you're still in your soul you put yourself in a position to connect with God and others. And to give and receive love is what life is all about.

What Does it Mean to Be Still?

Now don't misunderstand me. Being still does not mean being continually inactive or lethargic. Just like we can be too busy we can also be too inactive. There's nothing spiritual or beneficial about idleness, laziness, and passivity. Nor the feelings of depression that often go along with being inactive.

Depression, like anxiety, makes it difficult to connect with God. To make contact with God we need motivation, concentration, accurate discernment of ourselves and God, and hope ñ all of which are things that are incompatible with depression.

I've talked to many people whose depression led to spiritual decline. They felt distant from God. They felt harshly judged by God or excluded from His blessings. And they didn't have the energy or motivation to seek God or to serve Him. People like this need to get help with their depression in order to connect with God. For them to be still in soul they need to be more active and alert.

So what does it mean to be still? I understand stillness of soul to be experienced with a moderate activity level and a peaceful disposition (see diagram below). To be still you can't be hurried, pressured or overloaded, nor can you be lethargic, withdrawn, or passive. Anxiety keeps you from God because it sends your mind swirling off into many worries and distractions. And depression keeps you from God because it discourages, deflates, drives you into isolation, and leads you to think negatively about yourself and God.

In short, when the soul is still it's alive and energetic, alert and focused. And it's in position to connect with God and the love, joy, and peace that He gives.

Be Emotionally Present in the Moment

How do we connect with God? How do we experience day to day closeness with God? The typical answer is to practice the spiritual disciplines (which we'll discuss later), but for these to be effective we need to be connected with ourselves in the moment. We need to be consciously alert, emotionally aware, and present in the here and now.

Our heart is the only place we can connect with God. Now is the only time it can happen.

Consider this sampling of Scriptures that encourage us to seek God with our hearts right now:

• "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men." (Isaiah 29:13)
• "Seek the Lord while he may be found." (Isaiah 55:6)
• Enjoy your activities, possessions, work, and relationships today as the gift of God (Ecclesiastes 2:24, 3:22, 5:18-20).
• Jesus taught us to pray to God, "Give us today our daily bread" and He warned us, "Do not worry about tomorrow" (Matthew 6:11,34).
• "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." (Luke 5:16)
• "I tell you now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2)
• "God again set aside a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through DavidÖ `Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.' ÖThere remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his workÖ Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest." (Hebrews 4:7, 9-11)

In order to rest in God's care and to enjoy His goodness in our hearts and in the moment we need to express our feelings to Him. Many people tend to do the opposite by denying their negative feelings. They don't want to feel anxious or depressed so they defend against these feelings, sending them to the unconscious mind. This might seem helpful since anxiety and depression impede intimacy with God, but as we discussed above, disconnecting from your self (including your feelings) actually makes connecting with God harder. (See diagram above.) When we verbalize (or write out) our feelings to God instead it helps us to work through our anxieties and depressions and connect with God. This is what David modeled for us in the Psalms.

Even while praying or reading the Bible anxiety can distract us and depression can deflate us. In fact, some people even use Bible reading or other religious activities to deny pain and negative feelings! This is a toxic faith and actually distances us from God. God is light and truth and so to relate with Him we need to come out of hiding and stop pretending and be honest with who we are and what's going on with us.

I've found that sharing my feelings with God while I'm seeking to connect with Him helps me to get back on track and sense His presence. For instance, here are some examples of what I try to do:

• Instead of worrying about a problem, I pray to God about it.
• If I feel guilty then I confess my sin and ask for forgiveness.
• If I'm escaping into a fantasy then I talk to God about what's missing in my life today.
• If I'm having angry thoughts at someone I'm jealous of then I admit this to God and talk to Him about my insecurities.

Whatever you're feeling you can talk to God about it and He'll listen with care and this will help you to feel closer to Him. I find that it helps me to connect with God when I talk to Him about what I'm experiencing while I'm worshiping or reading the Bible or whatever I'm doing, even if it's not a spiritual discipline per se.

This same principle of self-disclosure contributing to intimacy applies to any relationship. Sharing your feelings and talking about your relationship with that person is what helps to build closeness. Here are some of the ways I try to do this in my relationship with God:

• While I'm singing a praise song in corporate worship I often pause and offer my own quite words of praise or thanks to God or cry out to Him out of my place of need.
• When reading the Bible it helps me to pray about what I'm reading or what I'm learning about myself.
• Sometimes I pray silently while I'm listening to someone who needs help.
• When I get out of bed sometimes I say "Good morning" to God and I tell Him how I feel and talk to Him about my day ahead.

Invite God into the Moment

"When I talk to God I don't want it to be a monologue," one man said to me. To connect with God we need to not only express ourselves, but to hear from Him. We need to learn from God, receive His care, and hear what He has to say to us. Obviously, this is not easy since normally we can't see, hear, or touch God with our physical senses.

Spiritual Disciplines

There are many ways that we can sense God and receive from Him what we need. The most common ways are through the practice of spiritual disciplines. Some of the ones I've found helpful are Bible study, prayer, worship, meditation on Scripture or nature, confession of sin, silence and solitude, communion, fasting, tithing, dialogue with a trusted friend, journaling, and helping others in need. These are all activities that help me to connect with God.

I believe that spiritual disciplines are only helpful though if we approach them with the right attitude. Done for their own sake they make us proud. Done out of habit or duty they're empty. Yes, they take discipline and mental focus and work, but at the same time we need to put our heart into them and be ready to receive from God. As cited earlier, we need to make every effort to enter God's rest (Hebrews 4:11).

With an attitude of trusting in God the spiritual disciplines are effective vehicles to relate with God, ways to put ourselves in position to hear from Him and to receive His grace and truth into our hearts and lives.

Examples

When practicing a spiritual discipline it helps me to invite God to speak to me and then to listen carefully. For instance:

• When I meditate on a Scripture I sometimes ask God to speak to me about this passage and then I'll wait and listen to what I sense He's showing me.
• When journaling I like to not only express my thoughts and feelings to God, but also to write down what I think He might be saying to me.
• In prayer, from time to time, I've asked God, "How do you feel about me?" and I've been blessed by His answer.
• Sometimes in worship I physically feel the warmth of God's presence or in my mind I see a vision or picture that God is showing me.

God Still Speaks Today

I believe that God still speaks to people today. Do you? I don't think He's giving us a new Bible or anything like that! I think He's present with us, concerned for us, and looking to care for us and to direct our steps. He communicates with us in a variety of subtle ways. Of course, we always need to test our impressions of God's words to us with the Bible and wise counsel. The point though is that if you don't believe God is speaking to you right now then you're missing out!

Another reason why people don't hear God's voice is because they expect thunder and lightening to accompany what God says. Very rarely does God open up the heavens and speak out in an audible voice. Very few people in history have been chosen to have the kind of face to face relationship with God that Moses had.

To hear God we need to listen carefully. Whispers. Impressions. Images. Hunches and thoughts that spring forth. Dreams and longings of the heart. These are some of the subtle, but direct ways that I believe God speaks to us today. Remember, that these are secondary to and need to be tested against God's revealed words in the Bible and the wisdom of wise counsel from godly people.

An Example of How I Heard God Speak to Me

One summer some years ago for family vacation I went with my wife and three children to Forest Home family camp for a week. We had a wonderful time visiting with friends, swimming in the pool, listening to some good Bible teaching, and just hanging out. My favorite times though were spent at the creek that flows down the mountain from Forest Falls, the second largest waterfall in California. I was so drawn to this creek. I visited it a number of times, on a early morning hike with God, during a walk with my son as we went looking for his lost shirt, in the wee hours of the mornings with my baby who awoke early, and other times.

The time at the creek I remember most fondly was the day that I went there with my wife and we privately spent an hour in prayer and reflection. I found a rock to sit on and just sat there right next to the creek and meditated. I put my feet in the cold water. I basked in the hot son. I admired the mountains in the background and listened to the birds sing from tree to tree. And most of all I sat and listened to God speak to me in the soothing sounds of this creek as the waters streamed continuously through the creekbed, splashed against the rocks, and swirled on down the mountain.

Why was I so drawn to this creek? What was God saying to me here?

As I sat quietly and listened I began to sense God's presence more and more. Then it started coming to me. So I got out my pen and notebook and started writing. I felt impressed that God's message to me in this creek was:

"Be still and know that I am God," that's what God was telling me. That's just what I needed to hear! And that's what I'm not able to hear when I don't slow down and connect with my feelings and my God in the moment.

I pray that you too will experience stillness of soul and experience God's unfailing love for you ñ in your heart, right now.