Be Still

13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
– Exodus 14: 13-14

Sometimes it is very difficult to just be still. We feel like we need to take action. We feel like there is work to be done.

There is work that needs to be done. There is action that needs to take place. However, it is not always ours to take.

In my life I have learned this lesson both at home and at work. I used to think I needed to take immediate action. I needed to fix the situation. I have now learned that my role often is to just listen. My role is to listen and discern whether I truly need to take action. I might even ask a few questions but mostly I just listen. Most of the time that is really what the other person wanted. They simply wanted to know someone was listening. Sometimes they had a question that they wanted me to answer but again, there was no action needed by me.

When I have had a personal problem or a work problem that I needed to resolve, I have also found that the first thing that I needed to do was to be still. I brought the problem to God. I talked to Him. I released it to Him. I waited. Sometimes I found that someone else had resolved it. Sometimes I found that it no longer was a problem and no action was needed.

I am not saying that there are never times when action is needed. I have even noticed that when action by me was needed it was much less action than I initially thought would be needed. Again, I took the same approach. I brought the situation to God. I released it to Him. I waited. Then I acted. I acted only on what I knew was necessary.

Father, help us discern when we need to be still and when we need to take action. When action is necessary, help us only take the appropriate amount of action and then show us when we need to be still again. Amen.