“Be still and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10a
Last week I wrote about abiding in Christ as the key to real impact, the kind that lasts and honors God. I described abiding as communing with the Lord in conversational prayer, taking time to just be with him, interacting with him in the Word and more. You can read about it on my website here if you want to sync up with what I was talking about.
I love to hear from people who read my blogs, sharing their thoughts with me. One woman wrote back last week and mentioned that she has found quietness to be the most transformative thing in her relationship with God. She cited Andrew Murray’s book, ‘Waiting on God” as a life-changer for her. I remember reading that decades ago. I didn’t really mention quietness or silence specifically in what I wrote last week so I thought today would be a good time to share about that.
Here are a couple more verses of Scripture to examine when thinking about waiting on God, quietness and silence as important ways to abide in Christ.
“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” Psalm 27:13,14 ESV
Waiting implies that you are taking time. Waiting on him takes focus. You have to push aside distractions and just relax into the quiet to be present to God. As a young woman I remember this quote from a book I was reading, “Quality time happens in the context of quantity of time.” That really stuck with me and it’s something that applies to all relationships. We have to give time to any relationship we value. As we quietly wait on God, we connect with him without words, just allowing Him to BE WITH US and give us his peace. Then we will be able to hear his voice clearly when he does speak to us.
The following verse is from the passage about Elijah hiding from Jezebel in a cave. Here’s the interaction between him and the Lord, as he stands on the mountain before the Lord. A strong wind, earthquake and fire came but the “Lord was not in” any of them. He was used to very dramatic communications and acts from God. Not this time! The real conversation between them ensued after things got very quiet, after a “thin silence” the literal translation says.
“…And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.(literally: a sound, a thin silence). And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19:12,13 ESV
You may have heard the saying “silence is golden.” I looked it up and it is part of an ancient proverb from the Middle East. The proverb is: “Speech is silver, silence is golden.” It speaks for itself – speech is valuable, silence is even more valuable.
My husband and I love to go to the mountains in Colorado to get away from it all and relax, see some beautiful sights and wildlife, to take time with each other and God.
It takes me a whole day sometimes more to just quiet myself after the craziness of packing and getting out of town. When we get there, Michael says he knows I’m letting down because I walk around sighing all day. Once I get past that I can sit quietly and just enjoy the silence and sounds of nature. I love that so much! Once I’ve relaxed and just quietly or silently rested, oftentimes the Lord pours his thoughts into me and shows me pictures or verses of Scripture. I have journals full of life-changing revelations that have come from those times.
When you take time to “be still and know that He is God” you will be changed in the presence of our Holy God❤️
With love and prayers,
Terri
