Be Still

"Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" ESV Psalm 46:10

A few weeks ago, I completed a bicycle trip down the Natchez Trace Parkway. Completing this trip had been a personal goal of mine for some time; several years at least. Not being particularly blessed with patience, I wish I could say that the trip was measured in days, but it wasn’t. The Parkway is 444 miles in length so my journey had to be completed in sections; a day or two here and a day or two there. All total, it took seven days of pedaling. I hope to collect my thoughts from the journey and write about it soon.

But for now, suffice it to say that the world looks differently from atop a bicycle. Flowers are more plentiful than you imagine and their colors are more varied and crisp. It’s fun to silently roll up on turkey, deer and other wildlife along the way and watch as they discover you and slip away. They don’t usually leave in a panic like they do when you’re in a car.

The world feels differently from atop a bicycle as well. The same gravel that causes a slight roar in a car are absolutely numbing on a bike. I’m talking about tooth jarring vibrations here. Every bump in the road is accentuated on a bike. There are good feelings too; the wind in your face; the smell of a fresh rain; the coolness of Cypress Creek on your tired limbs (a story of its own). You miss all of these things in a car.

Things look differently here in our own back yard from a bicycle as well. Just a few miles from my house, some friends and I ride a loop that we affectionately call Psalm 19 [“The heavens declare the glory of god, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”] because of its natural beauty. Though there is one hill on the loop that is so steep that a more intense passage seems a more fitting nickname; something from Isaiah maybe.

Why? Why does the world look and feel differently from atop a bicycle? Things look and feel differently because they’re coming at me at a different speed (much slower) and I am closer to my surroundings; a part of them sort of.

Be honest now. Aren’t most of our lives so fast paced today that we forget to smell the roses? Don’t we ignore simple pleasures because urgent things are pressing on us? Don’t we all sometimes neglect even important things like family and worship because of the hectic pace we keep?

Even in our churches we sometimes get so caught up in doing things “for” God that we forget that He is God; Creator of heaven and earth and worthy of all praise. We forget that he sets the seasons of nations and that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord of all. That’s what the Psalmist is reminding us of here.

Take a tip from a bicyclist and apply it to your spiritual life. Don’t get to moving so fast that you forget that He is God and worthy of praise. Slow down, be still, enjoy his fellowship and know that He is God.