Book of Jeremiah
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- Nov 3, 2012
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Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
-Isaiah 26:3
Part of trusting in God and keeping our mind stayed upon Him is to be still. When I am tempted to react to some trouble in my life I have to remind myself that if I get in His way I am liable to hinder the work He is desiring to do. I think about His promises and that the only thing God will be requiring of me is my faith in His Word and His ability to fulfill it. If I can't trust God, who can I trust? Sometimes it is difficult to walk this out but when those times come I go to His Word and encourage myself with edifying words from Isaiah, Jeremiah, King David's Psalms... and tell myself, if they did it, so can I. If they waited upon the LORD to renew their strength, so can we. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31
Sit Still - Streams in the Desert - April 7
Their strength is to sit still. (Isaiah 30:7).
In order really to know God, inward stillness is absolutely necessary. I remember when I first learned this. A time of great emergency had risen in my life, when every part of my being seemed to throb with anxiety, and when the necessity for immediate and vigorous action seemed overpowering; and yet circumstances were such that I could do nothing, and the person who could, would not stir.
For a little while it seemed as if I must fly to pieces with the inward turmoil, when suddenly the still small voice whispered in the depths of my soul, "Be still, and know that I am God." The word was with power, and I hearkened. I composed my body to perfect stillness, and I constrained my troubled spirit into quietness, and looked up and waited; and then I did "know" that it was God, God even in the very emergency and in my helplessness to meet it; and I rested in Him.
It was an experience that I would not have missed for worlds; and I may add also, that out of this stillness seemed to arise a power to deal with the emergency, that very soon brought it to a successful issue. I learned then effectually that my "strength was to sit still."
--Hannah Whitall Smith
There is a perfect passivity which is not indolence. It is a living stillness born of trust. Quiet tension is not trust. It is simply compressed anxiety.
Not in the tumult of the rending storm,
Not in the earthquake or devouring flame;
But in the hush that could all fear transform,
The still, small whisper to the prophet came.
0 Soul, keep silence on the mount of God,
Though cares and needs throb around thee like a sea;
From supplications and desires unshod,
Be still, and hear what God shall say to thee.
All fellowship hath interludes of rest,
New strength maturing in each poise of power;
The sweetest Alleluias of the blest
Are silent, for the space of half an hour.
0 rest, in utter quietude of soul,
Abandon words, leave prayer and praise awhile;
Let thy whole being, hushed in His control,
Learn the full meaning of His voice and smile.
Not as an athlete wrestling for a crown,
Not taking Heaven by violence of will;
But with thy Father as a child sit down,
And know the bliss that follows His "Be Still!"
--Mary Rowles Jarvis
-Isaiah 26:3
Part of trusting in God and keeping our mind stayed upon Him is to be still. When I am tempted to react to some trouble in my life I have to remind myself that if I get in His way I am liable to hinder the work He is desiring to do. I think about His promises and that the only thing God will be requiring of me is my faith in His Word and His ability to fulfill it. If I can't trust God, who can I trust? Sometimes it is difficult to walk this out but when those times come I go to His Word and encourage myself with edifying words from Isaiah, Jeremiah, King David's Psalms... and tell myself, if they did it, so can I. If they waited upon the LORD to renew their strength, so can we. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31
Sit Still - Streams in the Desert - April 7
Their strength is to sit still. (Isaiah 30:7).
In order really to know God, inward stillness is absolutely necessary. I remember when I first learned this. A time of great emergency had risen in my life, when every part of my being seemed to throb with anxiety, and when the necessity for immediate and vigorous action seemed overpowering; and yet circumstances were such that I could do nothing, and the person who could, would not stir.
For a little while it seemed as if I must fly to pieces with the inward turmoil, when suddenly the still small voice whispered in the depths of my soul, "Be still, and know that I am God." The word was with power, and I hearkened. I composed my body to perfect stillness, and I constrained my troubled spirit into quietness, and looked up and waited; and then I did "know" that it was God, God even in the very emergency and in my helplessness to meet it; and I rested in Him.
It was an experience that I would not have missed for worlds; and I may add also, that out of this stillness seemed to arise a power to deal with the emergency, that very soon brought it to a successful issue. I learned then effectually that my "strength was to sit still."
--Hannah Whitall Smith
There is a perfect passivity which is not indolence. It is a living stillness born of trust. Quiet tension is not trust. It is simply compressed anxiety.
Not in the tumult of the rending storm,
Not in the earthquake or devouring flame;
But in the hush that could all fear transform,
The still, small whisper to the prophet came.
0 Soul, keep silence on the mount of God,
Though cares and needs throb around thee like a sea;
From supplications and desires unshod,
Be still, and hear what God shall say to thee.
All fellowship hath interludes of rest,
New strength maturing in each poise of power;
The sweetest Alleluias of the blest
Are silent, for the space of half an hour.
0 rest, in utter quietude of soul,
Abandon words, leave prayer and praise awhile;
Let thy whole being, hushed in His control,
Learn the full meaning of His voice and smile.
Not as an athlete wrestling for a crown,
Not taking Heaven by violence of will;
But with thy Father as a child sit down,
And know the bliss that follows His "Be Still!"
--Mary Rowles Jarvis
