Articles by Charlotte Gambill

Be Still

A teaching series by Pastor Paul Scanlon called 'Life Responds to Who You Are Not What You Do', explores a concept which is changing lives in our church. This teaching on ‘doing versus being’ is challenging because it makes us examine ourselves. It stops us putting the blame for who we are elsewhere and points the finger back at our own lives. It is helping us understand that all change is tied up in who we are not what we do.

People will often ask, ‘what do you do?’ in an attempt to label you and find an easy category to slot you in. We need to realise that there is more to you or me than a title or job description. Who we are is far more important than what we do. A good starting place to help shift our emphasis from ‘doing’ and onto ‘being’ is learning to ‘be still’.

Being Produces Knowing

Have you ever been given a gift you didn’t like from a friend or relative? You smiled sweetly and said thank you but wondered what on earth they were thinking when they chose it. Or have you worked with or gone to church with a person for several years who then completely shocked you by doing something you thought was completely out of character? Maybe they fell morally or betrayed you. It happens because although you were doing life together, you didn’t really know one another.

Doing does not produce knowing. Only ‘being’ with someone and spending quality time with them gives you this. Psalm 46:10 says ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ This verse holds a great key to life by showing that to know God you don’t need to ‘do’ more you just need to ‘be’ more. Unless we spend time being still we will never really know who God is. Also, because we are meant to be like him, we won’t know who we really are until we first get to know him better.

I have discovered that the better I know someone the more it enhances everything I do for them. Instead of trying to keep a marriage healthy by ‘doing’ things for your spouse, just spend time ‘being’ together. As a consequence of this what you then do for each other springs from a knowledge and understanding of what you both enjoy. So when my husband takes me out for dinner, his doing springs from knowing me and therefore what my favourite restaurant is!

Many Christians ‘do’ for God when they don’t even know what he likes. They serve up events, evangelistic programmes and preach messages without taking the time to find out if God wants or even likes what they are doing. God wants us to ‘be still’ first so our doing springs from our knowing.

Doing and Stillness

Why are some people who ‘do’ very little, permanently stressed out, while others who lead incredibly busy lives are not? Most people work hard all year to enjoy a three-week holiday where they get to ‘be still’ and recover. Others get so burnt out from ‘doing’ that they need a longer period to recover. When we live this way life loses its flow; we find ourselves trapped in a cycle of stopping and starting in an attempt to keep recharging our batteries.

Being still is not about taking time off, neither is it about having a daily devotional quiet time as part of our list of things to ‘do’. Being still should be an inner way of life; it is not found on a beach but deep in your soul. It is about who we are, not something we do for a few hours a week or three times a year.

The answer is not to work and then rest but to put doing and stillness together. We think they conflict but the Bible constantly links them. It says ‘watch and work’1, be ‘planted and flourish’2, ‘stand firm in battle’3, and ‘be seated in the presence of your enemies.’4 Doing and stillness work together and should be united in our lives. In order to flourish we have to be still and planted, and to win a victory we need to be still the longest.

In fact God’s idea of a rest is to work. The Message translation says: ‘Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly’.5 In other words to ‘be still’ your work for God must come out of your walk with him. Never let doing for him become more important than being with him.

One day Jesus and his disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee when a great storm blew up. Jesus was asleep in the boat but the disciples feared they would drown. Although they did life with Jesus their ‘knowing’ of him was tested. Jesus had said they would cross to the other side but did they believe him? Storms and trials test our knowledge of God. If we panic like the neighbour when a crisis hits our life we don’t know God anymore than they do. Can you be still and sleep in the boat knowing that if God said you will make it to the other side, it will happen?
Knowing God is like having a guarantee that whatever the circumstances, you are fully insured. If you truly know he is your refuge, your shelter and strong tower, this knowledge will cause you to be still through difficult times. It will also free you from getting busy ‘doing’ a damage limitation exercise and trying to find your own solution.

Elijah performed many great miracles but his knowledge of God was tested when he ran away from Queen Jezebel in fear for his life.6 During this time God didn’t speak to him through earthquakes, wind or fire because Elijah already knew what God could ‘do’. Instead God reminded him of who he was with a still small voice. The big things we ‘do’ for God and the miracles we see him perform will never sustain us. Only knowing his voice will.

The Start of Stillness

Stillness starts at the top with our mind and works all the way down. Many Christians can’t be still because their mind is full of worry and negativity. Unless you still your mind your doing will be stressful, reactionary and often unnecessary. Instead replace worry with good thoughts. Think about whatever is ‘true, noble, lovely and praiseworthy’.7 Doing this will breed stillness in your life.
Still your heart. A still heart is a steadfast heart and this means we are emotionally stable and secure in our knowledge of God. If your life is an emotional roller coaster you will make choices based on how you feel instead of what you know. People like this skip church if they are having a bad day because they don’t feel like it. If you know the truth of ‘I will enter his gates with thanksgiving’ then who you are will help you make better decisions about what you do. Scripture teaches us that a person with a steadfast heart has no fear of bad news.8 Having a steadfast heart means you can be still in the face of problems that once frightened you.

Learn to ‘be still’ with your mouth. You can’t take words back and much time is wasted trying to undo what was said in haste, anger or fear. ‘Be still’ with your feet; hang up your spiritual walking boots, settle down and be planted in one place. When you do this people will get to know the real you. This can be uncomfortable and is a reason why some people keep moving on. Being still will increase your knowledge of not just who God is but who you really are. It’s the real you that God wants to liberate.

Learning to ‘be still’ will change the way we live. We won’t just do church, do marriage and do life without knowing why and for whom we are doing it. Being still will put a deep foundation in your life. Everything built on it will be based on knowing God and will stand firm. It’s time to commit afresh to ‘being still’ and work on who you are by knowing him more.

Love Charl

1 Mark 13:34
2 Psalm 92:13
3 Ephesians 6
4 Psalm 23
5 Matthew 11:28-30
6 1 Kings 19
7 Philippians 4:8
8 Psalm 112:7