When the Apostle Peter was writing about holiness, he encouraged his readers to be “sober-minded.” In the original language of the New Testament, those words convey this idea of self-control of the mind. And, like all self-control, we lose it when we get tired. That’s why many of us experience cycles of mental rumination before we go to bed. Our minds have been overstimulated throughout the day, and in our weariness, we lack self-control.
I’m not sure if the Sons of Korah were tired when they wrote the song of Psalm 46, but their lyrics are helpful guides for those of us who are mentally exhausted. It’s a divine invitation to “Be still, and know that I am God.” There’s something deeply spiritual about quieting our minds and centering our attention on God. Dallas Willard is credited as saying, Hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life." I think that’s really true. Hurry is especially harmful to our minds.
Every flick of a screen, a dozen thoughts flood our subconscious.
Every blinking traffic light, our brains spark on high alert.
Every Zoom call, we think about what we should say next, what our boss thinks about us, and why our colleuges’s camera is still off.
Every silent signal from a prospective partner, we’re flooded with mental impulses of endless possibilities.
Every moment, our minds are hurried.
Prayer is meant to slow us down. Prayer is meant to ease our minds. Prayer is meant to greet stillness and knowledge of God. After all, when our minds are hurried, we rarely think about God. Thoughts of him certainly stir imaginations and affections, but he never leaves us mentally exhausted. His yoke is easy, and his burden is light.
This predicament led the Trappist monk Thomas Keating to popularize a practice called centering prayer. While some have criticized this approach, I think that when centering on filling our minds with the truth and love of God, it can be deeply healing for our hurried minds.
Centering prayer is a practice of silence and focus. We sit in silence alone with the Lord and choose a single word, idea, or verse to devote our attention. For our example, we’ll stay with Psalm 46, but contemplate the first phrase of v.1, “God is our refuge.”
First, sit in silence for a few moments.
Next, reflect on that simple phrase: God is our refuge.
Then, think about what it means: God is safe. God protects his people. God is a place and person of rest and renewal.
Now, name a few ways your mind feels exposed, vulnerable, or fearful: I think I might get fired. I think my spouse is keeping something from me. I think my children aren’t having a good childhood. I think I’m sick.
Then, ask the Lord to be your refuge in each of those areas: God, be my refuge in my work and finances. God, be my refuge in my marriage. God, be a refuge for my children. God, be a refuge for my body and well-being.
Finally, sit for a few minutes, reflecting and repeating the psalm: God is our refuge.
As with any prayer, God’s response may take time, and how he answers us may be unexpected. Nevertheless, when we are still and know he is God, we settle our hurried minds on what is good, true, and beautiful. When we fill our minds with God and his Word, we’re freed from what’s making us so tired.
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Written by Jason C. Helveston
Peter uses a form of the Greek word nēphō — literally "to be sober, free from intoxication" — meaning alert, clear-minded, and self-controlled (1 Pet 1:13; cf. 5:8). The imagery is striking: an intoxicated mind cannot guard itself, and fatigue works on us much the same way.
Psalm 46 is superscribed "Of the Sons of Korah" (Ps 46:1 heading); the invitation to stillness comes in Ps 46:10.
Dallas Willard, as recounted by his friend and mentee John Ortberg in Soul Keeping: Caring for the Soul Where Life Is Real (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014). Ortberg recalls asking Willard what he needed to do to stay healthy spiritually. After a long pause, Willard replied, "You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life," adding that hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life in our day.
Thomas Keating, Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel (Amity House, 1986; 20th anniversary ed., Continuum, 2006). Keating, a Trappist monk, drew the method from older contemplative sources such as the fourteenth-century Cloud of Unknowing and John Cassian's Conferences.
Critiques of centering prayer from within evangelical circles have generally concerned the emptiness of the mind and its similarity to non-Christian meditative practices. The concern is fair — but the practice here is redirected toward filling the mind with scriptural truth rather than emptying it.
