When the doing leaves us, UNDONE!
by Michael “Maj” Allen

There are seasons when we are commanded to practice stillness.  Not because God is trying to make us inactive, but because He is training our souls for greater use.

Stillness is preventive maintenance for the soul. It keeps us from becoming like a wild, restless stallion–strong, gifted, full of motion, but untamed, aimless, and easily driven by fear.  Just as an equestrian patiently trains a horse that has never been ridden, God uses stillness to train what is restless in us. He teaches our souls not to run from quiet, not to panic in uncertainty, and not to mistake constant motion for obedience.

Here’s the irony: The tendency to be in constant motion is often our desire to be “in total control,” which ironically places us in a state of being completely, “out of control.” Pure chaos. So, we are commanded to be still and know that He is God.  In other words, He calls us to be intentional about taking time to remember that everything really is under “His” control.

If we are always moving, always striving, always producing, always managing every outcome, we can slowly begin to believe that our success came from our hands alone. But stillness interrupts that illusion. It reminds us that there are doors we did not open, storms we did not calm, favor we did not manufacture, protection we did not arrange, and grace we could never have earned.

There are some things only God can do. And in His wisdom, He has arranged our journey in such a way that we will eventually have to admit it.  Not to embarrass us, but to anchor us. He lets us participate, work, obey, build, and steward—but He also leaves enough mystery, impossibility, and divine timing in the process so that when the breakthrough comes, we know who deserves the glory.

This is mercy. God commands stillness not only to calm us, but to keep us from worshiping our own strength.  Psalm 46:10 says,

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Jesus demonstrates this in real time. In Mark 4:39 when the storm was raging and the disciples were afraid, Jesus stood up and rebuked the wind and the sea, saying:

The same voice that commands the storm to be still also commands our souls to be still. The storm obeyed Him.  Our hearts can too.

So the next time sacred stillness feels like irresponsibility, remember Psalm 46:10:

The Message translation says it this way:

Stillness is not neglect.  Stillness is trust.
Stillness is not weakness.  Stillness is training.
Stillness is not doing nothing.  Stillness is making room to remember who God is.

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Additional Reading

Exodus 14:14 — The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.

Psalm 131:2 — But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child, I am conte