“Be still,” commands the Creator. Being still is required on a deer hunt. As a youngster, I had only slight success sitting still, but now that I am, let’s say, older, I can accomplish sedentary feats quite easily. That is, until a spider walks across the back of my neck. Garland does not like spiders walking across the back of his neck, nor the front for that matter.

So, I’m sitting still and quiet, soaking in the solitude when the trespass occurred. I felt a spider dance diagonally down the back of my bare neck. What happened next cannot fit neatly into any genre — comedy, tragedy, drama, documentary, horror, country, rock, hip hop — hard to nail it down. The combat that ensued was pure chaos and confusion. It would have made a great video, but I doubt the cameraperson could have simultaneously held the device steady and convulsed with laughter.

I never saw the eight legged hooligan. Maybe I vaporized it when I slapped myself nearly out of the tree stand or maybe it jumped to safety in the nick of time. Was it perched on my shoulder? Had it tucked itself neatly under my collar? It’s the uncertainty that tortures the mind. Where was the unwelcomed arthropod?!

Without a precise target, I brought the rain!  I slapped, beat, boxed, pinched, grabbed, and chopped until I was satisfied that nothing could have survived on or under my clothing. Low guttural grunts and high pitched wheezes echoed through the timber; no, not the sounds of a rutting buck, but of a desperate soul—the armed and dangerous hunter, the man with gun and knife, a human being fighting for survival in the savage environs of Hurricane Creek. Here is an insight — a spider, though it may not harm you directly, possesses the insidious ability to provoke you to harm yourself. Kind of like the devil.

Do deer and spiders communicate? If so, this was all a set-up. The spider was most likely sitting on the backside of the tree giving a thumbs-up to a trophy buck that slipped passed while I was preoccupied; probably that 10 pointer that has a starring role on my game camera every midnight.

Hear an ancient song, “God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble” (Psalm 46:1 HCSB). It’s because of that truth God commands His people to “be still” nine verses later. Being still means more than just sitting still, it means quieting our souls and resting in His presence, trusting our future to His faithfulness. It means not panicking when life gets desperate, spiders or otherwise. It means singing that old song in our hearts, knowing that its truth is as alive today as the God whom it extols.

Prayer brings us into that stillness. Prayer is not just talking to God; it is talking with God, which requires listening. Listening is usually the most important and most difficult part of being still. It can be difficult to cease the striving in our minds, because trespassing thoughts creep in — worries, doubts, temptations. Like that spider, they steal our attention; pulling our focus away from the supernal to the superficial; going deeper with the transcendent turns into going over the to-do list or dwelling on distressing questions about the future.

Getting still with God restores our souls and prepares our minds for what’s next in life. The apostle Peter urges, “Get your minds ready for action, being self-disciplined, and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13 HCSB). Make time for stillness. Make time for God. Let Him restore your soul, prepare your mind, and reset your hope on the living hope — Jesus.

 

Garland Boyd is pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church.