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Wednesday, September 4, 2024
"The Blessing Of Quietness"
Message summary: Today let us consider the blessing of spiritual silence. Quietness and trust ever remain our source of strength. As an old hymn states, "There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God".
Listen
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player.
Bob
is a longtime
friend who
deals with a
non-visible
yet impairing
disability. He
has a severe
form of
tinnitus,
which causes a
constant
ringing or
buzzing in his
ears. However
he maintains a
victorious
outlook and
for many years
has shared the
Gospel in
nursing home
services and
many other
settings. He
also sends out
through email
a Bible
message that
he writes each
week. He is a
genuine
overcomer!We have occasionally met others with this affliction and recall visiting with Tracy, a lady whom I could tell was in discomfort. She told me she has tinnitus, which among other things caused headaches in her case. She had heard about a recently developed hearing aid type device that shows great promise although they are very expensive. She has a friend that has them and the improvement was dramatic. She hopes to someday manage to get similar help.
She asked me to guess what she would like to hear after getting the hearing aids. That’s like asking a blind person what’s the first thing they’d like to see after their sight is recovered. Would Tracy want to hear pleasant sounds such as birds singing, children playing, or a babbling brook?
She can presently hear pleasant sounds in life but always accompanied by the ringing and buzzing. The sound she longs for is the sound of silence which prompted me to consider the blessing of silence.
We live in a noisy world, much of it our own choosing. Consider how many need to have the television on or music playing all the time often through headphones. I do like music but I also like silence!
Today let us consider the blessing of spiritual silence. There’s a lot of noise, voices of all types clamoring for our attention and getting louder it seems. Today’s second Bible text is a gem deep in the heart of Isaiah. “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15). What a timeless message from the unchanging Sovereign Lord.
MacLaren’s Exposition comments, “Israel always felt the difficulty of sustaining itself on the height of dependence on the unseen, spiritual power of God, and was ever oscillating between alliances with the Northern and Southern powers, linking itself with Assyria against Egypt, or with Egypt against Assyria.”
Likewise we also struggle with depending, trusting, and resting wholly in God regarding that which concerns us versus depending on the “arm of flesh” which is all the paltry substitutes for relying on God. Yet quietness and trust ever remain our source of strength. As an old hymn states, "There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God".
Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer:
Father, the
Psalmist
writes that we
are to be
still and know
that You are
God. And yet
we run to and
fro looking
for solutions
to the
problems at
hand. We
purchase the
newest and
latest book to
hopefully make
us more
victorious
Christians. We
charge up our
phone or other
electronic
device playing
Christian
music that
will surely
elevate us to
higher ground
in You. We
listen to
great teachers
of Scripture
and expect
that we will
be stronger,
wiser, and
more sensitive
to Your
Spirit. While
all of these
things may
serve us well
and build us
up in the
faith, there
is also needed
time for
solace that we
need to work
into our
schedule, a
time where we
block out
noise,
activity, and
other people
so that we can
listen
carefully for
Your still
small voice in
an unrushed
and quiet
setting. For
most of us
that’s early
in the morning
before the
phone rings
and family
members, job
duties or
chores demand
our attention.
Just as the
Psalmist
requested in
Psalm 5, “Give
ear to my
words, O Lord,
consider my
meditation...for
unto Thee will
I pray, my
voice shalt
Thou hear in
the
morning...unto
Thee I will
look up.” Or
as Job spoke
these words,
“Teach me, and
I will be
quiet...” (Job
6:24).
Living out
in the country
we
are accustomed
to relative
silence
compared to
where many of
you live.
However,
during this
season, we
have natural
noise such as
the loud
sounds of
summer
nighttime
insects which
we can even
hear through
our closed
windows, the
pleasant
chirping of
birds, a
rooster's crow
or
occasionally
even a distant
cow’s moo or
the bleating
of sheep. Of
course we have
mechanical
sounds as
well; traffic
on our road or
farm equipment
in the fields.
I expect our
corn harvest
will begin
today on the
field across
from our
house.
Very few have
ever
experienced
total silence,
negative
decibels,
which is very
hard to
attain. As
best as I can
determine the
world’s
quietest place
is the
anechoic
chamber at the
Orfield Labs
in
Minneapolis.
The sound
level in the
room, which
actually has
the Guinness
World Record,
is -9
decibels,
compared to
the average
“quiet” room’s
30. However
this degree of
quietness is
actually very
unpleasant.
Today's
Suggested
Music and
Supplemental
Resources
"Near
to the Heart
of God"
Listen
on YouTube
"Inside
the world's
quietest room"
Video
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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version and a variety of other versions.
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