In 1082 the Prince of Gurgan, Kai Ka'us ibn-Iskander, wrote a book called "The Qabas Nama", a book of advice to his son, on life as a prince and a man. In one passage he wrote, "Ever be aware of your enemy's activities, secret or otherwise, never feel secure against his treachery against you..." In 1044 the great Chinese leader Tseng Kung-liang wrote, in his book "Wu Ching Tsung Yao" (translated: A Compendium of Military Art) stated that if a man could learn to concentrate on a single subject for three minutes he could rule the world.
What tremendous truths for us even today, for truth transcends the ages.
There's another truth that transcends the ages, and, like the two truths above, we seldom follow, or even take time to learn. It is found in Psalms 46, verse 10. It says simply, "Be still, and know that I am God." Be still; the art of learning to stop. It's learning to pay attention. It's learning to concentrate. Once we learn how to slow down, to stop our hectic pace, then we are finally in a position to know God. We all search for inner peace, we all desire to find meaning, we all long for fulfillment, but it will never be found in the busyness of life. Yet to slow down means to face ourselves, and that can be more frightening than no answers at all. For to face ourselves, and come to the realization that we have no answers, leaves us vulnerable to the pain of the emptiness inside.
Yet to slow down also means we have an opportunity to meet God. God doesn't present himself to us in the blatent, or the obvious. A perfect example is found in I Kings 19, when the prophet Elijah experienced the presence of the Lord passing by. First came a great, roaring wind, but God wasn't in the wind. Next came an earthquake, but God wasn't in the quake. The quake was followed by fire, but God wasn't in the fire. And then, a gentle whisper, and Elijah knew he was in the presence of God. It is possible to experience mighty winds, or earthquakes, or fire while we are busy with life, but to catch a whisper we must slow down, we must stop, we must be still. It is in that time that we most fear, that time we are vulnerable to our inadequacies, that we can turn our eyes from ourselves and see God.
As Kai Ka'us wrote, we need to be ever aware of our enemy, for our enemy is ever aware of us. One weapon of choice of our enemy is busyness. Someone once told me that if the devil can't make us bad he'll make us busy. If he can keep our focus off God he wins. There's nothing so pleasing to him as a people too busy, to afraid (of ourselves!?) to slow down... "Be still, and know that I am God."
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