Verle Bell M.D.
[Originally published as Be Still and Know]
I’m told that when people are stopped at a red light, they resent the 45 seconds of quietness and feel they must fill the void with texting.
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength, not in filling every second with noise.
Be still, and know that I am God: (Psalms 46:10)
Many people today get on a cell phone and rattle away so fast that the listener misses about half of what they say. Maybe, for them, talking is about taking turns making noise and not about communication.
Televisions sets are used as filler noise to cover up the fact that no real relating is going on. The void is filled with chatter to decrease the sensation of loneliness.
How to Escape the Lonliness Trap
God calls his people to slow down, be still, and meditate on the goodness of God!
He teaches his people to be quick to listen and slow to speak (James 1.19). When I speak – slow down and focus on speaking gently: a soft answer turns away anger (Proverbs 15:1). After all, healthy talking is about taking an idea or experience from my head and sharing it with someone else’s soul. It has little to do with having “said my piece.” Listening is the other half of this equation as I accept their world into my own. The goal of healthy conversation is to make sure I have heard them and they have heard me.
For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. (Isaiah 30:15)
I would love to go to a cabin in the woods and take a pen, paper, and Bible and just listen. It would probably drive me crazy for a while, as I am used to my life being so full, but I’m sure it would make it easier to hear the Lord and get to know him, concentrating on things wise or honest or helpful.
What Listening Isn’t
I am not talking about Eastern meditation where one empties oneself and goes blank inviting the universe to impart wisdom. This type of meditation invites unwanted spirits to distract and deceive me, or allows multiplied worries to invade my peace. Instead, I am to meditate on something true: a question, a verse, a need, or the nature of God.
“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” (Joshua 1:8)
But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. (Psalm 1:2)
“I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.” (Psalm 77:12)
Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. (1 Timothy 4:15)
Human life used to have vast spans of boring emptiness which we either wasted in a blank trance or spent in healthy meditating. Now, life is often filled with constant empty noise and entertainment. Unlike our ancestors, we have to make room for quiet reflection and thinking. But it is essential to our soul health to include this in our days.
Decades ago, a Detroit newspaper paid a large sum to 20 families to agree to watch no TV or listen to radio for one month. They never did this again because several families decided to divorce when they found that they actually had nothing in common.
Am I afraid to be quiet lest I discover emptiness in myself and my relationships?
The rest of the families all swore that life was better with less TV and promised to watch less. When the paper revisited them a year later they were all watching as much or more than before. The rushing flow of information can be truly addicting.
The only hope of regaining control of my mind and time is to practice quietness, focused on the Lord, and asking him to help me return to my first love — thinking only of him and the wonder of his love for me. I might also benefit from obtaining support from family or friends to help me fight for quiet times, to hold me accountable in the struggle to be quiet.
Be Still and Know, or Fill the Void with Noise and Know Not!
Be still and not argumentative. “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.” (2 Timothy 2:25)
It is so hard to leave the outcome in God’s hands. We try to force others to agree or understand our view. This happens
- by raising our voice,
- saying the same thing over and over,
- gathering the troops to back us up,
- pouting, etc.
I love how Paul shows what it looks like to be okay with what others choose as he presents the truth because he remembers that it is the Holy Spirit’s job to persuade and our job to speak boldly, clearly, but not to yell:
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. (Philippians 3.12, ephasis added)
