Still … Quiet … Silence … Shhhhhh!

                                                                   “Let be, be still … “

 

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” … and know that I AM God … (Psalm 46:10).  Many beautiful, sincere Christians truly want to know the Lord and to know intimately His “sweet, satisfying companionship” (Psalm 25:14), but they just can’t seem to attain to that blessed relationship with Him.  Perhaps stillness is lacking.  Then there are others who know that the Bible says that “His Strength is made perfect in our weakness” ( II Corinthians 12:9), but all they are conscious of is their weakness.  Perhaps in both situations a necessary “posture” is missing – e.g. quietness before God, an ear ready to hear from Him.  The Word of God addresses the human tendencies, especially in our world now, of not spending time alone with God, being quiet, and shutting out all noise insofar as it is possible.  If a believer pays attention to what the Lord is saying about this subject,  he can find himself infused with inner and even outer strength and become increasingly more confident in the Lord as his Strength.

 

                          “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength … ” 

 

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The first part of this verse says, “In returning and resting in Me you shall be saved (delivered) … ” (Isaiah 30:15).  So first we return to the Lord from forgetfulness of His Presence, and we receive Grace to sit quietly before Him and respond to His invitation as seen in Isaiah 26:20 – “Come, My people, enter your chambers and shut your doors behind you, hide yourselves for a little while … “.  The Lord Himself said to His disciples after they had fulfilled His commission in Mark 6:7-13, and after Herod had ordered John the Baptist to be put to death:  “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place, and rest a while … ” (v.31).  David likewise spoke to his own soul when it had stopped resting in the Lord:  “Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.”  (Psalm 116:7).  We see through these passages that getting quiet before the Lord is not not just a new concern for people living in the 21st century!  Let’s look at more examples in the Old Testament of how this stillness of soul was encouraged by prophets and other leaders of that era.

 

                                                                          “Stand still … “

 

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In I Samuel 9 we read about the Lord calling Saul “to be leader over My people Israel” ( v.16).  At their first meeting,  Samuel gave the king-to-be a directive regarding his present responsibilities (tending his father’s donkeys), and then brought him to “the high place” to eat with him and about 30 other guests.  Then in verse 25 the Word of God says that “Samuel conversed with Saul on top of the house”.  The next day, however, when Samuel was accompanying Saul on his way out of the city, he instructed him to ‘bid his servant to pass on before them’ – “and he passed on – but you [Saul], stand still, first, that I many cause you to hear the Word of God.” (verse 27). Is this not a great word for us, now, to inwardly and outwardly ‘stand still and hear’ – truly hear – the Word of God?                                                                                                      Moses was another leader of Israel who knew the value of standing still in a crisis.  He told the people of Israel at the edge of the Red Sea, with Pharaoh and his army hot in pursuit of them, “Fear not;  stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today,”  (Exodus 13:14).  They stood still.  They saw the Lord’s deliverance.  I wonder what would have happened if they had not submitted to Moses’ instructions as soon as they heard them (Psalm 18:44).                                                                                       Now, one more posture of stillness to consider …

 

                                                                              “Lie still”

 

Samuel lay down in his place to listen in silence before the Lord. Share on X

 

There are two examples in the Word of God of “lying still” that stand out to me, the first involving a child, the second a king.  When Samuel was a child, Hannah, his mother, brought him to the prophet Eli to minister to the Lord before Eli.  That is the first mention of the young boy (verse 1) after his mother’s dedication of him to the Lord.  The second was in verse 3:  “Samuel was lying down.”;  and this was his posture of rest when the Lord called to him (verses 4-10).  The third time the Lord called him, the boy responded according to Eli’s instructions:  “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.”  Samuel then went and lay down in his place to listen in silence before the Lord (Isaiah 41:1).                                                                                                           The second example of “lying still” before the Lord is David, who, in Psalm 4:4, wrote, “Stand in awe and sin not;  commune with your own hearts upon your bed and be silent.  Selah.”  “Be silent” … why?  In this verse, not to eventually fall asleep but to be awake, alert to, undistracted from listening before the Lord, as we saw above in Samuel’s case.  But so often we can lie down, or sit still, or stand still, and yet there is so much inward noise, distracting thoughts.  How do we quiet ourselves inwardly?  Rather, how does the Lord quiet us, for “when HE gives quietness who then can cause trouble?” (Job 34:29). Not surprisingly, He gives clear instruction and strategy in the Scriptures, and through His Word He gives us the power to hush the hindrances to stillness.

 

                                                                        “Shhhhhhhh … !”

 

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When we physically say “Shhhhh … “, it actually sounds like certain white noise that many have going in the background of their bedrooms so they can fall and stay asleep. This also works when for example, we’re attempting to be quiet before the Lord, and a myriad of details descends on our consciousness:  things we need to do that day, what I forgot to do yesterday, what I will prepare for the family for Thanksgiving dinner – a seeming endless array of important and not-so-important matters!  We can say, in faith, “Shhhh!” to the latter,  which are trying to preempt the ones that are weightier at that moment, we can receive Grace to declare, “I’m seeking the Kingdom of God first and His Righteousness, and these other things will be added unto me, severally as God wills!”  And to reinforce your “Shhhhh!”, it helps to “Close the door and enter into your closet” (Isaiah 26:20).  The Lord even instructed His disciples, “When you pray, go into your private room and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret, and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open.”  (Matthew 6:6)

 

                                                                    “Hush, and be muzzled!”

 

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There are other distractions and hindrances to ‘listening in silence before God’ that perhaps require a more forceful rebuke.  When the enemy comes in like a flood with projections – which are always in opposition to the Nature of God and the Finished Work – we cast them down, as we do all vain imaginations and high things that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God, bringing every one of them into captivity to the obedience of Christ (II Corinthians 10:5).   We know that His thoughts toward us are always thoughts of peace and never of evil (Jeremiah 29:11).  Therefore, we can be as forceful with our rebuke of the enemy’s accusations and projections as Jesus was with the storm stirred up by satan in Mark 4:37-39, when He “rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Hush now!  Be still (muzzled)!  And the wind ceased … “.

 

“We’ve got … to reach a level of quietness where we can hear Him speak.”

 

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After writing most of this post, I read words in Amir Tsarfati’s book The Elijah Mandate which (1) encapsulate the preceding paragraphs;  and (2) beautifully and skillfully confirm the importance of being quiet enough to hear the Lord’s “still, small Voice” (II Kings 19:12):

” … with all the noise of social media, news, life … , we’ve got to fight tooth and nail to reach a level of quietness where we can hear Him speak.  Sometimes those barriers come from within us.  So many are afraid of silence.  It’s uncomfortable, unfamiliar … But as awkward as quiet sometimes feels, it is necessary.  Seeking God in this world is a battle … If we are to win this war [against quietness] , we need strategy and preparation … We must intently [and intentionally] set aside listening time … When God spoke to Elijah [in the cave, after the wind, earthquake, and fire], the prophet was ready to listen.  As a result, he got his marching orders – ” And he was ready and prepared to obey them.  (The Elijah Mandate, Amir Tsarfati, page 175).

Let us then follow suit and receive an abundance of Grace to “study to be quiet” (I Thessalonians 4:11), to listen in silence before the Lord (Isaiah 41:1), and to be a ready listener (James 1:19), so that we will be prepared like those mighty angels in Psalm 103:20 who not only do His commandments but also hearken to the Voice of His Word.  Let us do this so intently and intentionally that we can truthfully say as David did in Psalm 131:2, “Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child from its mother … “.