Well I’ve been quiet for a little bit on here – sorry about that! On the 14th of November I spoke at St Paul’s on Psalm 46, those famous words “Be Still and Know that I am God”.
I’m never one to blow my own trumpet, usually falling more on the side of self-deprecation for comic effect (perhaps a topic for another time) but this was one of my better talks. It warmed my heart to overhear someone say to their friend a week later “did you hear Adam’s talk last week, it was really good”.
Ironic then, that one of the reasons I haven’t blogged is because I simply haven’t “had” the time. Perhaps more importantly, alongside not having the time to blog, I’ve also not “had” much time in the last couple of months to be still for myself.
I meet with a mentor in London every 6 weeks or so – these times are incredibly valuable to me for a huge variety of reasons - not least because on the train journey as I go there, I get to look back at the last few weeks since the last time I went, and think about how I’m doing with my own journey with God.
I did this yesterday, and was more than a little disappointed with my own inability to listen to my own words. When in the last few weeks had I allowed myself time and space, truly to ‘be still’?
I used the quotation marks above to make a valid point. I’m so fortunate to do the job that I do, and largely have control over my own diary. It is therefore not the case that I haven’t “had” the time, either to blog, or more importantly to be still, it’s more that I haven’t made the time.
I very much appreciate that some people don’t have this luxury – but we all have ‘free time’ (and if you don’t, then you need a serious re-evaluation of life!). I suspect, if you’re anything like me, then you probably manage to find time to do other things which are much less important, be that watching a terrible soap (obviously I don’t do this!) or playing games on our phones.
There is a preacher's favourite illustration for this. Normally they get a large bucket and fill it with rocks, they then ask if they could fit any more in and everyone says no – then they put gravel in the bucket, around the rocks – again they ask if more could go in, and everyone says no – then they add sand, and this time everyone thinks, surely there is no more room – until water is added.
The point of this illustration is that it matters massively what the rocks are, and that you put those in first. If spending time with God, isn’t one of those rocks, it’s easy to run out of room.
We all need to disconnect ourselves from the busyness of life, from our phones, and from the world around us, and learn to just Be Still. You may do this already, or the thought of it might fill you with dread.
When I talked on this topic, someone said to me “I can’t do silence, I’m too much of an extrovert” It’s important to be clear that stillness, and being Still with the Lord is different to Silence. What I’m talking about here is the need to retreat. Often it will need us to be silent, but sometimes it may just need us to stop focusing our energy, our thoughts and our time on other things, and just to focus on God.
I spent a couple of hours in ‘stillness’ this morning – I began, as I often do, by listening to some worship music and allowing myself to soak in it.
For clarity - this is also different to times spent studying the word, and interceeding - all of which, you may be pleased to note - I've continued to do, and indeed am doing more and more of. This is about retreat - I've known churches do weekends away called "retreat to advance" - I love that idea of us needing to be still, in order to sustain us.
For clarity - this is also different to times spent studying the word, and interceeding - all of which, you may be pleased to note - I've continued to do, and indeed am doing more and more of. This is about retreat - I've known churches do weekends away called "retreat to advance" - I love that idea of us needing to be still, in order to sustain us.
How you do ‘retreat’ isn’t important, making it one of the big stones is, one of the things which is a priority - rather than an afterthought.
So, this is certainly a case of ‘physician heal thyself’ – I know I need to reassess the ‘rocks’ in my bucket. I hoped, by writing this, it might encourage you to do the same.
If I were to offer two pieces of advice (from my poor experience), it would be firstly to find time each week (at least) to be still – to retreat – and to really rest – put this in the diary, and don’t let other things get in the way of it (I’ve done this). My second piece of advice would be to have someone to whom you're accountable, it doesn’t matter who, but have someone or a group of people who will ask you how you’re doing.
I hope you find it as fruitful as I do.
