Jill's Journey
Recently, I was asked to sing a song called "Be Still" from our first CD, "Gettin' Away". The song was written years ago by a dear friend of ours, Andrea Glenn, based on that Scripture in Psalm 46:10: "Be still and know that I am God." Although I hardly ever sing it anymore, it's still one of my favorite songs, as it captures so well the struggle to trust God for the future when we can barely see the next step in front of us and are scared to death to take it.
It got me thinking about those seasons of my life when the enormity of my need just took my breath away. My first inclination was always to grasp for solutions, begging God to take the hardship and pain away.
I must have gone to sleep thinking about all of this because I woke the next morning with a little phrase running through my thoughts: "...like a weaned child..." I was almost certain it was from Scripture but I had no idea where. I went on a search through my concordance and finally found it. Psalm 131 says: "My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quiteted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore." (verses 1-3)
It's like David was saying, "I get it, God. The way You do things is beyond me. I can't grasp Your purpose in all of this but I know that Your are God and I'm gonna trust You." Like a good friend who told me the other day, she felt God whisper into her heart, "I guess there's just some things that I know about this situation that you just don't yet. : )"
And then the word picture in verse 2 is just amazing. A weaned child, snuggled against his mother's breast, still and quiet. A nursing child is often not that. He is struggling for and demanding nourishment, often grasping and pawing to get it. But a weaned child is no longer preoccupied with the milk. He relaxes, knowing that his mother will provide his daily food when and how she sees best. It is no longer his concern. He simply rests in the arms of the One Who will supply.
Oh God, You want me to be a weaned child, at rest in Your everlasting arms. Please take my preoccupations and demands for comfort and a life free of pain, and replace them with quiet trust. Teach me to snuggle up in Your all-sufficient embrace, resting in Your provision. To "be still and know that You are God."
It got me thinking about those seasons of my life when the enormity of my need just took my breath away. My first inclination was always to grasp for solutions, begging God to take the hardship and pain away.
I must have gone to sleep thinking about all of this because I woke the next morning with a little phrase running through my thoughts: "...like a weaned child..." I was almost certain it was from Scripture but I had no idea where. I went on a search through my concordance and finally found it. Psalm 131 says: "My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quiteted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore." (verses 1-3)
It's like David was saying, "I get it, God. The way You do things is beyond me. I can't grasp Your purpose in all of this but I know that Your are God and I'm gonna trust You." Like a good friend who told me the other day, she felt God whisper into her heart, "I guess there's just some things that I know about this situation that you just don't yet. : )"
And then the word picture in verse 2 is just amazing. A weaned child, snuggled against his mother's breast, still and quiet. A nursing child is often not that. He is struggling for and demanding nourishment, often grasping and pawing to get it. But a weaned child is no longer preoccupied with the milk. He relaxes, knowing that his mother will provide his daily food when and how she sees best. It is no longer his concern. He simply rests in the arms of the One Who will supply.
Oh God, You want me to be a weaned child, at rest in Your everlasting arms. Please take my preoccupations and demands for comfort and a life free of pain, and replace them with quiet trust. Teach me to snuggle up in Your all-sufficient embrace, resting in Your provision. To "be still and know that You are God."
