the strain is enormous and many are caught up in what is called the "rat race". How do

these conditions affect us? What is our attitude of mind? When the businessman goes

home, does he take his worries with him? If we have an hour to spare in the evening, can

we relax, or are we still troubled by the strains of this life? It may be easy to advise the

troubled to "Be still" and relax. But how can the anxious mind be set at rest?

The Hebrew word translated "Be still" is only translated once in this way. There are

at least 20 occurrences of this word, and it is rendered cease, fail, forsake, let alone,

let go, stay, etc. The basic meaning is to "let go". The translation "Be still and know

that I am God" reads much better than "Let go and know that I am God". Yet, as we

meditate upon it, we can see that the rendering "let go" is a valuable aid to our

understanding. We carry our troubles always, and we do not let them go. How can we

relax if we do not let our troubles go? Psa. 55: 22 reads "Cast thy burden upon the Lord

and He shall sustain thee . . . . .". But if we cast our burdens on the Lord and then pick

them up again or fail to let go, are we relieved of our burdens? To cast our burdens on

the Lord means that we must let them go. And if we let go, then we become "still" and

know that the Lord of hosts is with us. We enter the refuge.

Certainly there is a need to "hold fast" and to be steadfast in the things of God. But

we need to let go those things concerning this world which constitute a burden.

We need to rightly divide, to distinguish between those things which we should hold

firmly and those things which we should hold very loosely, things which we should let go

when we need to relax.

When we wish to relax, and "let go" may we remind ourselves of Phil. 4: 6, 7:

Yes, that peace will help us to "let go" and relax. Then shall we "Be still and know,

that I am God".

So then, let us learn to set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth

(Col. 3: 2).