It Is Well With My Soul
We are a world that is in perpetual motion. We run full bore from the minute we climb out of bed until the moment we collapse back into bed at night. Then once we climb back into bed at night we roll around and find ourselves not able to sleep; our bodies are exhausted, but our minds are still racing, thinking of a million things. Cell phones are never out of arms reach. Even weekends and vacations are of no help; we take our work and our technology with us wherever we go. And social media, oh my, it consumes, I could argue wastes, huge amounts of time and energy. Stillness is just not in our DNA. I admit, I am guilty of having difficulty slowing down and being still for more than five minutes. Even if my body is at rest, my mind is almost always thinking.
This past weekend I was fortunate to spend a few days with my family, really the first since pre-Covid. It was off the grid and away from the rat race called life. Just what I needed. One morning I got up early and put on my sweatshirt. Yes, it was cool, in the 50s, and quite nice. I sat alone on the porch within fifteen feet of a creek, listening to breeze blow through the leaves and the water trickle over the stones on the creek bed. I made a point to simply sit in the quietness and stillness of the early morning. In those few moments of stillness, not only was I reminded of the beauty around me, I also experienced God’s presence. I allowed myself to simply be still, and in doing so, an overwhelming sense of peace and contentment resided in my soul. In those quiet moments I could say it is well with my soul.
I grabbed my Bible and turned to some of my favorite “be still” verses…
In Psalm 62, the psalmist shows a strong resilience in the Lord, for rest is found in Him – “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. For he alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress: I will not be shaken” (vv.5-6).
Living in a world filled with greed, rampant abuses of power, and suffering, Psalm 37 offers these comforting words – “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the one who carries out evil devices” (v.7).
God himself says this in Psalm 46 – “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (v.10).
And today, and every day thereafter, I encourage you to make Psalm 131 your own. It expresses David’s walk with God, in which he has complete contentment because of a life fully submitted to, and trusting in, God. Here is that Psalm, which is only three verses – “O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.”
There is an old hymn that begins like this – “When peace, like a river, attends all my way, when sorrows like sea-billows roll, whatever my path, you have taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’” (Lyrics by Horatio G. Spafford)
So, I ask… Are you purposefully carving out time and space on a daily basis to be quiet and still with God? In doing so, you too will be able to say it is well with my soul.
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