Moments of Stillness
There's something holy about quiet reflection
Beloved Friend,
You see this Bible ehn, it will never stop amazing me. One moment you’re reading it like you’re just checking something off your list, and the next moment, something jumps at you like it’s the very first time you’ve seen it. I know you’ve probably heard ministers say the word of God is inexhaustible, and honestly, they’re right. These words are truly spirit and life. They soothe, they correct, they confront, and they teach. One day, you’re reading a verse and it’s just words. Another day, that same verse becomes your lifeline.
I remember how a verse I had read so many times suddenly came alive. Psalm 4:4. “Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still.” I had been reading that psalm performatively for a while, like one of those passages you speed through because you kind of already know what it’s about. But that day, something about it caught my heart. It wasn’t because someone preached it to me or I saw a tweet about it. It was personal. Like a whisper from the Holy Spirit saying, “Slow down. Look again.”
And that was when I realised just how precious these moments of stillness are. For the longest time, I thought reflection was one of those useful habits. You know, reviewing your day, tracking your goals, looking for ways to be more productive tomorrow. Helpful stuff, right? But I didn’t really think of it as something the Bible speaks directly about. I didn’t see its role in my walk with God.
Until I did.
“Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still.”
It means to pause. To reflect. To have a quiet, inward conversation about where your heart really is. Not the version you present to others, not what you assume it is. But to actually sit with your heart in stillness and let it speak. And not just speak for speaking sake, but under the gaze of God. That kind of reflection is not ordinary. It is spiritual.
It’s in those quiet moments that conviction settles in. That we realise, “Oh, I shouldn’t have said that earlier today.” Or, “Wow, I didn’t even thank God properly for that provision.” It’s in those moments we let the Spirit remind us, nudge us, correct us, and also comfort us. We can’t afford to keep living on the go, constantly running, constantly filling up every moment with noise. Sometimes what we need is stillness.
Even our relationships thrive on reflection. Imagine you had a friend who told you they were hungry every day. It became so normal that you didn’t think twice about it. But one day they say, “I’m hungry,” and you suddenly hear it differently. You hear, “I feel safe enough to say this to you even when it’s small.” I know you're like, “ahan Patience, it's not that deep”, humour me abeg. Someone else can hear your interpretation and be like, it’s not that deep truly, but that’s the beautiful thing about how God’s Word reaches each of us uniquely. One day it’s just a verse, the next, it wraps itself around your soul like a warm blanket.
God is intentional. So intentional that He put this in His word, reminding us to slow down and commune with ourselves. He knows how easily we get carried away. How we sometimes only review things for productivity, not for intimacy with Him. But He wants both. He wants us to grow, yes, but even more, He wants us to be deeply connected with Him. To look inward and find Him there.
That verse doesn’t only call us to stillness, it calls us to stand in awe and sin not. Awe. That childlike wonder. That moment when your heart bows even before your knees do. That moment when you feel your heart being rewired just because of a verse. That is holiness in motion.
This week, maybe instead of rushing to sleep as soon as your head hits the pillow, building castles in your mind like you usually do, or counting the ceiling for those who have difficulties falling asleep immediately; here’s something beautiful to try instead: try being still. Ask your heart, “How are you really?” Let God speak into that silence. Let the Word echo in that quiet. There’s more to gain in those moments than we often realise.
The Word is not just deep, it’s personal. And when it touches you, it changes everything.
With thoughts of kindness,
ABBA’s Shofar