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This week, churches in our community have participated in a 24/7 prayer vigil. Each evening there were times of worship led by different churches. During one of the meetings, as a song ended quietly, the worship leader whispered “We need you, Jesus. We are desperate for you.”

The words that immediately popped into my head were “It’s when you’re quiet that I know you’re listening. It’s when you’re quiet that I know you’re listening. Exuberant praise is good and fun. Loud declarations based on My Word are important for building your faith and shattering the enemy’s camp. But it’s when you’re quiet that I know you’re listening.”

As I thought about that for awhile, an image came to my mind of the parent who takes the face of their active child, holds it between both hands and looks directly into it, eye to eye, to get and keep the child’s attention. The parent isn’t yelling to make himself or herself heard. He is waiting for the child to be quiet and listen. “It’s when you’re quiet that I know you’re listening.” I think God wants to take our face in His hands at times, turn our heads so that we are looking directly at Him, and then wait for us to be quiet so He can clearly communicate something to us. Something important. Something He wants us to understand and remember. Something very special because He wants to be sure He has our attention before He tells us.

Today a verse in Isaiah 30 reminded me of God’s Words from earlier in the week:

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,
but you would have none of it.
Isaiah 30:15 (NIV)

God tells the Israelites that it is in repentance and REST that they find their salvation – not in activity and loud praise. He tells them that their strength is in quietness and trust. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5) How much easier to lean on our own understanding than to trust God! (But that’s the subject of a blog that should appear next week.)

Rest…quietness…trust – words that all speak of a calm faith. That’s the kind of faith I want to live.

I love loud worship. Let me repeat that. I LOVE LOUD worship. And I firmly believe that my God is worthy of way more celebration than should ever occur for our favorite sports team (sorry sports fans). Yet I can’t help wondering – how many messages from God do we miss because we are celebrating and not resting in quietness?

Lord, teach us to wait on You in quiet faith, trusting that You will speak when You know we’re listening.

“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:9b, 10b

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 at 11:03 pm and is filed under Christian Living, Faith, Intimacy with God, Trusting God, worship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.