“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.” Isaiah 30:15
Dear Ones:
There is a wonderful hymn, written by E.M. Grimes, which begins like this: “Speak, Lord, in the stillness, While I wait on Thee; Hush’d my heart to listen, In expectancy. Speak, O blessed Master, In this quiet hour; Let me see Thy face, Lord, Feel Thy touch of power.” What is Grimes seeking to communicate to us? It is that God speaks in the stillness, the quietness of our hearts and minds. Why? There are times when His voice is like the sound of many waters, but there are times also, when it is as a “still small voice.” Often in speaking to us, it is the impression of the Spirit to our souls and minds, using the objective word to clearly communicate to us. The “impressions” of the Spirit, or as another Christian author put it, “…the inward impulses of the Spirit,” are only clearly recognized when our hearts are in a place of stillness. An example of this is seen in the life of Daniel. He, and his brethren, were facing a life or death situation, and had implored the king to give them time to understand the interpretation of a dream that the king had dreamed. In desiring, or seeking, the “…mercies of the God of heaven concerning the secret,” Daniel wrote: “…Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision.” (Dan. 2:19) Why at night? There is no better time to be quiet, and to receive not only the impressions of the Spirit, but the very words and understanding by the Spirit.
What is the basis for trusting God to “speak” to our hearts, and to bring us into a clear understanding of what His will is? In the Apostle John’s first epistle, or letter, he was writing to believers. He wrote the following: “But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.” (1 Jn. 2:27) John has taken the great truth of the believer’s oneness with Christ by the Spirit, and is now applying it to the matter of hearing, and discerning, the voice of God, through the objective word of Scripture. The wonderful, and most amazing truth here, is that the Spirit of God has been given to EVERY believer, to BE his or her Teacher in truth. The Lord Jesus put it like this: “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and he will show you things to come.” (Jn. 16:13) Since Pentecost, every believer born of the Spirit, has the Holy Spirit in his heart and soul. He is one with Christ by the Spirit. But the benefits, and blessing, of such a union is always, “…according to your faith,” and according to the power that works in us. Why? Because it is all by faith, faith in the faithfulness of God, according to what He has declared. It is thus the will of God for the Spirit to be our Teacher, our Guide, the One who reveals the things of Christ to us. When does He do this? It is when we are still, and living in the expectation of Him speaking.
Scripture speaks to us, both in the Old Testament and in the New, concerning walking with God. From the Garden of Eden, we find this concept a wonderful call to fellowship, and loving service to Christ. How is it to be accomplished? Jesus put it so well, in speaking of the place of quietness, of aloneness with Him. Do we really believe that God is able to quieten down our hearts and spirits, to sit at Jesus’ feet, and hear Him speaking in the stillness?
Dear Father, Teach us Thy ways of quiet receptivity. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad