Be Quiet!

Be Quiet! Sharon Griffin

February 10, 2015

Sharon Griffin gave us a wonderful word from the Word of God. Today she challenged us to not just close our mouths, but quiet our hearts and direct our minds to focus on the voice of the Almighty. We examined a variety of verses that speak to the theme of “Be Quiet” and gives us guidelines that we can apply to our lives. Looking at:

Habakkuk 2:20à In this particular verse the prophet Habakkuk was questioning God because of Israel’s lawlessness and sinfulness. Ironically just as Habakkuk was questioning God, He then presented himself before God, and awaited to be corrected by God. For it is okay to question God and show your concern but be mindful that God owes you no answer and that God wants to come to Him when we are concerned or when our solitude and peace is disturbed. Habakkuk was worried and his doubt grew until He quiet himself and listened as God instructed Him to write down what He said Him. For even Habakkuk and Israel themselves had to learn that…

If you are going to listen then listen to the real God not the idols in your life.

Next we need to have a “trusting confidence”

Isaiah 30:15aà “trusting confidence” in “quietness” we get so busy with the things of the world and we always ask ourselves “what are we going to do…what’s going to happen…” God wants us all to get to the point in our lives where we are “free” and away from the connections that distract us from our relationship with God. Many times in our lives, we must “rest” in God because we must discern and listen to what God wants us to do. We must rest ourselves physically as well as spiritually. We must learn to rest, allow ourselves to ponder and refocus upon God.

            If you want to know how to keep a peaceful mind, win others to Christ, encourage others, fight temptation, and forgive others etc it begins once we learn to quiet our souls then it begins once we learn to quiet our souls. Learn to put away your phone. Remove your apps, and social media. Learn to be alone and think about God and ponder upon his blessings. Close your door, analyze and reflect upon your life. Learn to not give an answer right away because we do not always have the answer for everybody and everything. We must understand that it is okay to not always know the answer to every situation, problem, text, and email it is okay to wait until the answer comes to you.

Know These Things:

·      Ecclesiastes 5:1àYou do not always need to talk, recognize the moments when you should not speak.

·      Psalm 46:10à Recognize you need to be still and listen and know, realize and recognize who God is. Being quiet increases your fear of the Almighty.  

·      Psalm 91:1à You are safe in God. God says in Him there is a secret place where we can tell Him everything, and know He will not tell a soul. We are under the shadow of the almighty and He is everything we need.

The Benefits of “Silence and Solitude”

Psalm 23:2b, 3aà Your soul consists of your will, mind, heart and your emotions.

Quiet, solitary places give us restoration. It revives and refreshes us. Sometimes we even need to separate ourselves from church “stuff”. Nothing should interfere or cloud our communication with the Lord God, so we must learn to leave from the presence of others.

Go find yourself a room, go lock yourself in the room, where no one can disturb, and there you can re-center and renew your mind with the Word of God. Life gets us stressed out so we must quiet ourselves before we speak harmfully to another human being.

Psalm 131à In silence do not fret, grumble, or complain. Do not engage with individuals’ even believers who lead you astray or contribute to non-healthy areas in your lives. Learn to:

            Minimize relationships only make the relationship what it is suppose to be within God’s boundaries.

God always responds to our silence in His Way

1 Kings 19:11-13à A good example is the story of the prophet Elijah who was tired and looked for the next command from the Lord God. Although the earth shook, fire blazed, water moved, Elijah did not see God in any of these wild natural occurrences, but God revealed Himself in a quiet still voice. If we have so much noise in our lives, we might not hear the quiet voice of the Lord. We expect God to always come in an exuberant fashion, through giant earthquakes, thunderstorms, through multitudes of people, public blessings, but a lot of times God comes in a subtle, quiet manner. We must practice and, discipline ourselves to come to God and respect the solitude of His Holy temple.

Think about this

“Where does the still, small voice of God fit into our hectic lives? When do we allow him to lead and guide and correct and affirm? And if this seldom or never happens, how can we lead truly authentic Christian lives?”

“Too busy not to pray” by Bill Hybels, InterVarsity Press 1998, page 125

·      Are you allowing God to come into your life or are you giving Him the leftover parts of your day?

o   -If we fit God in, He won’t fit, but if you start or begin with God everything will fit.-  (Matt 6:33)

o   Putting God first allows you to be sensitive to the little blessings throughout your day, so you can start running and continue on running throughout your journey.

There is such blessing and restoration and peace in solitude.

“Without silence, there is no solitude. Though silence sometimes involves the absence of speech, it always involves the act of listening. Simple to refrain from talking, without a heart listening to God, is not silence.”

“Celebration of Discipline” by Richard Foster. Hodder and Stoughton. 1989, page 123

There is a time and place to relax, but we must learn when it is God’s time. If you want to fight temptation you must listen and ask God, “Lord what should I do?” But if you are not attune to His voice then you cannot hear His answer. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman. He does not go against the Word of God and He does not force His will or choice upon us.

Strategies/Suggestions for Exercising Silence:

·      Write your prayers no more than a page (it could be a prayer of adoration) A lot of times we fall short of thanking God.

·      Journal no more than a page to help you reflect upon God’s blessings

o   All these tools strengthen your listening skills

o   Different distractions are used against different people learn what distractions to cut off from your life

Main take away from today is that God wants us to be quiet, because

All those who open their mouths close their eyes.