“Be still”

In the forty-sixth psalm occur the words, “Be still, and know that I am God;” and they are followed by the assertion, “I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Oh, the peace and joy that come from being still—just being still! It is a heaven-sent blessing, the ability to listen to the voice of God; and no one can deprive us of it, if we are alert. Only as we hearken to the disturbing voice of error, only as we fail to quiet the material senses, do we find ourselves fearful of the tempestuous billows. When Jesus was on the raging sea, he was undisturbed by it; so much so that he slept peacefully, confident that his heavenly Father was guarding him there as on the peaceful hills of Judea. Even when his frightened followers feared they might perish in the storm, he was undisturbed. “I am God,” his Father had said; and he knew that no material place or condition could interfere with that omnipresent Life. “Peace, be still,” were his words to the leaping waves; and the answer to his confident prayer that he knew his Father had heard came, when immediately “there was a great calm.”

How we all need to “be still, and know”! God has said that He will be exalted among the heathen and in the earth; and He demands obedience and honor. God is not to be found in the great wind, or in the earthquake, or in the fire, as Elijah learned; for these are manifestations of the carnal mind. In the “still small voice” of Truth, divine Mind, which comes after the material senses are silenced, is God found—God who is high above the illusory beliefs of mortals, exalted far above the earth-born tendencies of the Adamic race. Materialism must be stilled for us to know God. The world and the “still small voice” cannot be entertained in consciousness at the same time. Thought must be raised to meet the most high God, who knows not evil, but is Himself infinite good. We must rid ourselves of evil and its ways, and acknowledge Him only as real.

The wonderful part about our learning to know God is that we do not have to seclude ourselves to realize His presence. In the Christian Science textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” Mrs. Eddy defines God as follows (p. 587): “The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence.” The word “all” is insistent in this illuminating definition; there is no possibility or opportunity for anything outside the allness of God, good. Anything unlike Him does not exist. Evil may appear to be active and boisterous and tempestuous, but in reality it is unreal. Manifestly, we cannot be afraid of nothing; so we need not fear error, which is just that.

Mrs. Eddy says on page 14 of Science and Health: “Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual,—neither in nor of matter,—and the body will then utter no complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well.” This becoming conscious of the reality of Life—is it not just the being still and knowing, the recognition of God’s allness? It matters not where the Christian Scientist may find himself, or how inharmonious his surroundings may seem to be; he can always become conscious of God’s presence, the presence of Him whose “still small voice” can be heard in spite of the world’s vociferousness. The voice is always here; but the Scientist has to quiet his thought, as he so wonderfully learns to do when he follows the rules of Christian Science, thus becoming able to commune with his God. Healing comes with this communion, and also the peace that passes human understanding. Nothing the material world offers, however promising, can weigh one iota in the balance against the great good that comes from looking to Spirit for a single moment.

A great differentiation is made in Christian Science between the mere mortal measurement of time called a moment and the “moment of divine consciousness, or the spiritual understanding of Life and Love,” which is given as part of the definition of “year” on page 598 of the Christian Science textbook. With the purification of consciousness the periods of spiritual understanding become more and more frequent, and the Christian Scientist learns, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that because intelligence and life are indeed spiritual, the relinquishment of mortal thought can bring only good. Time, which is no part of eternity, passes away, carrying with it many an outgrown theory. And when, because of listening more and more intently to the “still small voice,” consciousness becomes so purified that the human conception of time gives place wholly to the understanding of eternity,—which will inevitably occur,—then will God be exalted; and then also will He be known “from the least of them unto the greatest of them.” Christian Science teaches that our blessed work now is to “be still, and know”!