Be Still and Behold God’s Beauty

This past week, my husband and I went to Northwest Arkansas for an anniversary trip. Since we got married, our vacations have all been to busy places. We love to eat at nice restaurants, visit museums, and explore big cities. But our lives have gotten rather busy these last two years, so we decided to do something different. 

 

We found a cabin in a small Arkansas town in the middle of nowhere, confirmed there was no cellphone service, and headed there for four days with a lot of snacks and several books. 

 

The road trip was long, and throughout the last hour we did not see another car or any signs of human activity, but we finally arrived. When I got out of the car, the first thing I noticed was the quiet. There were no cars, no sirens, no voices, none of the normal hustle and bustle I was used to. It was so quiet, it was almost uncomfortable. 

 

We unpacked, grabbed our books, and sat on the deck overlooking a private pond surrounded by trees and mountains as far as we could see. It was beautiful. So beautiful I could not look away. I was so excited to read the book I had brought, but I couldn’t even open it. All I could do was sit in stillness, and stare out at the world around me. The wind rustling through the trees, the glassiness of the pond, the butterflies around the deck—it was all captivating. I couldn’t move. 

 

I immediately thought of these words from the Psalms: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10a, ESV). As I beheld the beauty of creation, I was moved to behold the beauty of its Creator. In the same way that the vastness and beauty overwhelmed me and brought me to stillness, the vastness and beauty of God who created all of this beauty overwhelmed my soul. 

 

My life in the city often keeps me from being still and appreciating quiet and beauty—just as our modern lives often keep us from being still and appreciating the beauty of God. We are pulled away from stillness by distractions like our children, our phones, our work, or just the busyness of everyday life. 

 

And sometimes, we are pulled away from stillness by our own resistance—often motivated by fear, doubt, or anger. We don’t want to face the reality of our emotions or allow God to see us when we feel these emotions. We avoid stillness so we can pretend those negative feelings do not exist. But our emotions are not surprising to God, and they are definitely not too big for Him. 

 

Stillness allows us the opportunity to behold God for who He is. It does not take long. Go to a quiet place—maybe a park, a room in your house, or even your backyard—and sit in stillness thinking about God. You can pick one of His attributes to meditate on for just a few minutes. It might help to leave your phone in another room or in your car. 

 

James 4:8 tells us that God draws near to us when we draw near to Him. Therefore, when we go to God in stillness, we get to behold and know Him for who He is, as the psalmist declares. And it is a privilege and a joy to behold the beauty of the Lord. The beauty of God when He meets us in stillness is more beautiful than anything we could ever behold in physical creation—more beautiful than the Grand Canyon or the quiet mountains of Northwest Arkansas. Take time to be still and behold Him today.