Stillness

... "In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength."

(Isaiah 30:15, NKJV)

The air around us is buzzing with activity, music and chattering voices, some recorded while some are from individuals next to us.  Our minds are forever being stimulated by our environment whether we are around people or just on our own.  The advancement of technology and social media provide an ongoing source of stimuli and the challenge now is not for lack of information but the availability of too much information (TMI), which is difficult to digest.  This causes us to feel inadequate and forever on a hamster wheel trying to catch up with what we think we are missing out on.  More and more people are suffering fear of missing out (FOMO), and unfortunately, the truth is that it is not possible for any individual to know everything about everything.  An individual’s awareness of what one can handle realistically and profitably would be a major step towards coping with all what comes our way.

Brethren, I confess that finding a moment for silence is a challenge and I suspect that others here identify with me.  It is a struggle to be still and just quiet.  The clutter in my mind goes on non-stop yet, in reference to our verse above, it is in quietness that our strength is found.  The quietness in our hearts is also related to a sense of being confident, a confidence that is attributed to God.  It is our faith in the eternal all powerful God which gives us confidence that all will be well, and this becomes our basis for the stillness or quietness.  As I reflected on this, I realized that lack of quiet confidence in God has something to do with our faith.  We say, we believe but do we really?  Do we believe enough to trust that He will not fail us and that He will sort out what concerns us?  These are some of the thoughts I got in meditation.  Further in the verse, God says that we will not take His rest, that we have refused to accept His rest.  That is huge, the thought that we mortal men, created by a loving and almighty God would fail to find our confidence in Him. 

God’s ask of us is that we will be quiet in the knowledge that He is in charge of our lives.  What stops us from being still is the need to control what happens, yet we need to accept that we are not in control of the next second of our lives.  We must reach an acceptance, that we are not all what we think we are or would want to be.  It is our dependence on God that gives us strength and not our human abilities. Jesus told us that we should not let our hearts be troubled, all we need to do is to believe in God and in Him (John 14:1).  He also tells us that we should not fret for our Father knows that we have need for all these things (Matthew 6:8).  Indeed, He is in control, we are the challenge, we are the ones creating our own worry by trying to take on that which we cannot.  The parable of the birds and the flowers of the garden, remind us of God’s love for all His creation and yet, we are of the highest value (Matthew 6:26-34).  Our problem is believing that we are of value to Him.  Beloved, I am challenging myself in here too, we all need to ask ourselves how big our God is.  If He is big enough for our trust and therefore our quiet confidence or if we think we can still do it our way?  We know the answer, we are His children and in our weakness, He is strong (2 Corinthians 12:9), His grace is sufficient for us at all times.  Our stillness in His presence helps us know that He is God who is exalted among the nations (Psalm 46:10).  Habakkuk seems to have received revelation that we all need to be silent as the Lord is in His temple (Habakkuk 2:20).  In His presence there is no bubbling, there is silence as we gaze in awe and wonder of His magnificent strength and liquid love for us. His presence commands a stillness. I submit that the secret to stillness is found in His presence alone, outside - there is the clutter and clamour for all other things.  It is in His presence and in our quiet confidence that we find our rest and strength.  Brethren, let us lean in that we might receive strength for the journey.

Thoughts:

How quiet is your heart?

Where do you find your rest?

What is keeping you away from your place of quiet confidence?

What has been your experience of quiet confidence?