Quiet

Stop Your Fussing and Be still!

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Be Still

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! – Psalm 46:10 ESV

Our eight-day trip had been wonderful, yet anything but restful. Living out of suitcases, eating from the food we had packed or from various restaurants, left us with the constant reminder that we were neither at home nor at our destination. But God had a surprise planned and I almost missed it. After the first four days in our hotel room, just as I was packing for the next leg of our adventure, I just happened to look up and then I noticed for the first time a large, framed print. It hung on the wall just above my side of the bed but I had never seen it. There two large words on a white background told me all that God had been trying to tell me for days – “Be Still!”

Have you ever noticed that while we are looking for a detailed message from God about what we should be doing, where we need to be going or why things aren’t working out, that He often gives us something far simpler? While we are preoccupied with the geography of our destination, He is far more interested in the geography of our hearts. And so, I am hearing His answers to my questions –

“Be Still” - I have your family problems in my hands
“Be Still!” - I will be a spring in your dry places.
“Be Still!” - It is more important what I think than the acclaim of people who know you little
“Be Still!” I will be exalted in your life when you stop your fussing and simply know that I am God!

He Gave Him No Answer

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But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed Matthew 27:14 ESV

I have a small confession to make. Some days I love to complain. I complain about the weather. I complain about my church, my kids and even my wife. Some nights as I lay my head on the pillow and replay the whiny remarks which I made I wonder how I could have been so unkind and wish I had kept my lips sealed.

Jesus on the other hand had no shortage of things to complain about. But on the worst die of his short life, Jesus encouraged a thief; made sure His mother was taken care of and forgave His enemies. How could He do that? What was His secret?

Some years ago I was bringing a truckload of branches to our local landfill. At the entrance was a one story cement block booth with an attendant who checked each vehicles weight. As I pulled up to get our weigh in slip, I saw there by the side of the operator’s window a small sign with an arrow pointed up stating, “Complaint department upstairs!”

How can we be patient like Jesus, when others mistreat or abuse us physically or verbally? The answer is in knowing where the complaint department is located. Telling our neighbors, our family or our enemies the way we feel won’t help. Our only response is to quietly trust that our cry is heard by the only one who can deliver us. Then in the same way that Jesus did we can give ourselves into the hands of the one who loved us and gave His life for ours.

Listening Ears

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O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me            hear it.  Song of Solomon 8:13

Ears

Only ears can hear

That’s just the way God made us

If ears could see or hear

They’d certainly betray us

But when God fashioned ears

Those humble awkward things

That flop about and wiggle

On little inner springs

He made a way to tell us

How much we’d been forgiven

And then He set and tuned them

To hear His words from heaven

Oh – only ears can hear

That’s just the way God made them

Humble listening gifts

That lead us to obey Him

 

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I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence-we need to listen to God because it’s not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters. God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer.  Mother Teresa

“Hearing is an ability but listening is a choice!”  P C Caligiuri