September 12: TWENTYEIGHT MINUTES!

I knew that most people fidget a lot. I knew that Americans tend to be active and energetic and find it hard to sit still, even for a little while. The inactivity of being sick or hospitalized is difficult for most people, not mentioning the disease itself.
I experienced it when I had a thalium stress test in the Cardiac Clinic. After the treadmill, I was injected with the radioactive material and strapped to a narrow bed and not allowed to move for 28 minutes while continuous pictures were taken of my heart. Have you ever tried to be totally still for 28 minutes? It’s hard! Then I remembered something the Bible says in Psalm 46:10: God instructed, “Be still and know that I am God.” That’s the reason many people don’t know God; they don’t stop running long enough.
We run around, being active, when we need to be quiet and let God speak. How can you hear God speak when you are being loud and rowdy? In Isaiah 30:15, God says, “In quietness is your strength.”
It is hard to come to grips with reality! Just think; from Monday through Friday, people stay extremely busy and noisy. Then the weekend comes, a time for quietness, rest, and reflection. But for many, life is such a turmoil on the inside that partying and loud music and rental movies fill even the rest-days with sound.
The Prophet Zechariah entreats us, “be still before the Lord, all mankind.” (Zechariah 2:13)
I can tell you that in my 28 minutes of quiet, I thought some serious thoughts. You may not resolve every issue in your quiet time, but you can begin to face them. In Isaiah 32:17 is promised, “the effect of righteousness will be quietness.”
When we experience peace with God in our hearts, it is not hard to be still. Try it.

“Show us a time and place where we can be quiet before You, Our God,
and bless us with determination to keep the appointment. Amen”