Striving

In Psalm 46:10 it says "cease striving and know that I am God." and in another translation the same verse is worded this way; "be still, and know that I am God." 

 I love this scripture and it is very powerful. Recently I was talking to someone about how busy they were, it was an insane amount of scheduling on their calendar and it made me tired just thinking about how busy she was. I feel some people enjoy the busy feeling and in some ways it makes them feel productive. It is great to be productive but I think we have to pause and think to ourselves and ask ourselves, "am I striving against the wind, or for approval of someone/people in our lives or is there a good motive behind the bus-i-ness?" I looked up the word "striving" and came up with two different verb definitions. 1. make great efforts to achieve or obtain something. 2. to struggle or fight vigorously. Unfortunately, I feel most people today are doing #2 of those definitions. This is a problem. To struggle in life without God's direction and guidance from living according to his word and plans of his will in your life requires a forceful effort or fight. This is where to me the verse Psalm 46:10 comes in from the word. To 'cease striving' doesn't mean you stop working or managing your successes or your dreams and plans..it means to me to give up your rights and surrender those plans to your heavenly father. Yielding our heart to him, trust in him, even when we cannot see, or a mountain is so big, we need to allow our faith to rise up, and he will and promises to teach us how to live.