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 (NIV)
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 lies 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] Joanna Weaver, 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.
