I love the Bible verse that says, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). It always gave me the impression that I shouldn’t be so busy all the time, but should relax into recognizing how awesome God is instead. A few years ago, though, I was challenged to reconsider my understanding of this popular Bible quote.
I learned that it is more accurately translated as, “Let go of your grip and know that I am God.” That says something pretty different to me. Now I hear something like, “Rena, you don’t need to be the one in control here. I’m God.”
Either translation is humbling as we recognize how big God really is. I think that understanding the “be still” part differently can help Christians be more of service to other people. Very often, we hear Christians say, “I’m waiting for God to tell me what to do. I’m being still and waiting on the Lord.” Meanwhile, they aren’t actually getting any clearer on what God wants them to do to be a blessing to other people.
In my experience, it’s a lot more effective to make a course correction when I am already in motion than when I am sitting still. Have you ever tried to move the front tires of a car while it’s sitting still? You can crank on the steering wheel really hard and the tires barely move. Turn the steering wheel while the car is in motion and the tires turn with ease.
John and I would not have been able to jump into the work we are doing in Simply Great Lives. We had to work with people doing financial coaching before it became clear to us that we are really more interested in people’s impact than we are about their money. It was a tweak to what we were already doing. Because we were already in motion, God was able to prompt us with something like, “That’s close, but you need to focus on this part over here instead.”
When we “let go of our grip” we let God direct us. It doesn’t have to look the certain way we had in mind. It allows us to be more flexible and let God direct what we are doing instead.
So, if you are desiring for God to provide you direction in how you will make a positive difference, I hope you get in motion and seek His direction, too. I think it’ll give some context for you to receive and better understand his guidance.
