Are We Just Fitting God In?

Written on 11/16/2022
Christian Dunn

Verse: Psalm 46:10

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

Devotion
Is it possible to be moving so fast in life that we miss out on knowing God? Think about it. We know this is true about all our other relationships, don't we? If we are too busy for our friends, we don't build deep friendships. If, when we are with our friends, we are always preoccupied with our phones, we don't build deep friendships. The same is true of our relationship with God. 

Maybe this is why the Lord encourages us through this Psalm to "be still" so that we can know him. If we are too busy with life to make time to be still and know him, how deep will our relationship with him really be? If we are squeezing God into our life where we can fit him, is that really enough to cultivate a deep relationship? If we only pray when we are doing 10 other things, or we only read our Bible for 30 seconds while we are scarfing down our breakfast, is that going to lead to the deep abiding knowing of God that we long for?

Now listen, I'm not knocking praying at all times (even when we are doing 10 other things!) or reading our Bible even when we don't have a lot of time. Those are good. But if that's all we have, I think we will find that we are not being fully satisfied. It's analogous to grabbing fast food when you are in a hurry. That's fine once in a while, but if that's all you ever eat you aren't going to be healthy.

The deep abiding presence and love of God that our souls crave can't be fully cultivated by just fitting God into our lives when we can. That kind of relationship is grown by having a discipline of regularly "being still" - pausing everything else - and knowing God in the stillness. We need to create space in our schedule, leave our phones, get alone, and slow down in order to know Him. As you read this, is God calling you to be still and know him?