Stillness
and Quiet
By Tracy Smith
He
says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46:10
I
am reading the book, Having a Mary Heart
in a Martha World, and in the chapter titled "Living Room
Intimacy," Joanna Weaver says,
"I constantly fight the
tendency to fill the God-shaped hole he created in me with fluffy stuff…I don't
like quietness so I fill up the silence with sitcoms and talk shows, Christian music
and CNN - - but it was in the quiet of the night that Samuel heard God's
voice" [1]
That's
me. I am the type of person who does not like quiet or stillness. I cannot just
sit at the doctor's office and wait for the doctor without something to do, so I bring a book to read. I cannot do
chores in a quiet house, so I put on the TV or radio as background noise. I am
so bad that if I am watching a TV show, I will read a book at the commercials
to keep the brain busy! I'm most comfortable when I keep my brain active and
engaged.
The
Bible gives us examples of people who heard God's voice when they were still,
when they were quiet. Samuel heard God's voice in the middle of the night when
all was quiet (1 Samuel 3:1-14). Elijah hears the voice of one of God’s
messenger angels when he is discouraged enough to give up, so he lays down to
sleep (1 Kings 19:4-8).
Why
am I unable to just relax the brain and enjoy? I really don't know, but I would
guess that is just the way I am wired. Does that mean that I should not try to learn
to be still? No. In the above verse, God tells us to be still and to know who
He is. What am I missing by not being
still and/or quiet? What would
happen if I stopped, kept still and listened to God? I hope to find out soon!
GOING
DEEPER
1.
Will you commit to picking a time every day that you focus on being still and
quiet?
2.
What do you use to fill the quiet? What can you do to change that?
FURTHER
READING
[1]
Weaver, Joanna. Having a Mary Heart in a
Martha World. Colorado Springs: Waterbrook Press, 2007.
Along
with being a wife and mother to two boys, Tracy is an administrative assistant
at Oakwood, serves on the Women’s Ministry Special Events Team and leads a
great group of Junior High girls.
