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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

¹⁹But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. ²⁰Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
          1 Samuel 8:19-20 (NIV)

As I read these verses, it struck me that most of our problems stem from wanting to be “like all the other” ______ – you fill in the blank – like all the other people; like all the other parents; like all the other kids at school; like all the other states; like all the other nations.

If you are reading through Samuel, as we are during our Resting at the River’s Edge reading, you would have seen that the Israelites had asked Samuel to appoint a king. Samuel was grieved and took his concern to the Lord. The Lord very pointedly replied to Samuel:

“Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.”
          1 Samuel 8:7a

The Israelites request for a king is really their acting out of their rejection of God as their king. And what reason did they give? They wanted to be “like all the other nations.” Not only were they rejecting God as their king, they were rejecting God’s Kingship in their lives. They no longer wanted to follow His pattern for life, but the pattern of the sinful nations around them.

I wonder how often are we like these Israelites? As adults, it is easy to see it in our children. How strongly they want to shake off parental instruction and “be like all the other” kids! Of course, our children don’t see it that way.

Well, my friend, you and I are just like our children! We chafe and rebel at the instructions God has given us for life and we say “I want to ‘be like all the other’ people.” We want to share in their leisure activities. We want to watch the same television programs (how else will we have anything to talk about with our coworkers?). We want to eat their food and drink their beverages. We want to rule our own lives as they do. Is there anything wrong with their leisure activities, their television programs, their food and drink, their lives? Maybe, maybe not. What is wrong is our attitude.

We have such a deep-seated desire (need, actually) for community that we are willing to remove ourselves from under God’s Lordship and put ourselves under the authority of Satan just so we can “be like” those around us. That need occurs at the very depth of our being – it was put there by God, who lives in community within the Trinity. It was put there by God, who knows our need so well that He sets the lonely in families (Psalms 68:6). It was put there by God who established the Church to serve as our earthly community.

But mostly it was put there by God so that we would seek Him. It is our sinful nature that has perverted what God has put in us so that we seek community among the pagan nations around us instead of with God and His family. Friend, let us desire “to be like” the One who created us and knows us, our wants, desires and needs better than anyone, even better than we know ourselves. Let us desire “to be like” those around us who love God, not those who love the world. And let us use that God-given desire for community as the impetus that causes us to reach out to those who are not yet a part of our community. They need community, too. Let’s help them find it in God.

Reading about Kings and Churches…

If I were to break the Israelites history into major segments, it would look something like this:

• The Years of the Patriarchs: Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph (Genesis)
• The “Moses Years” (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy)
• Moving into the Promised Land (Joshua)
• Period of the Judges (Judges, part of 1 Samuel)
• Period of the Kings (1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, most of the prophets)
• After the Captivity (Nehemiah, Ezra, Esther, Malachi)

In June our Resting at the River’s Edge reading plan has us leaving the period of the Judges and moving into the period of the kings as we read 1^st and 2^nd Samuel. First Samuel begins with the grief of a woman who has been unable to bear children and ends with the death of Israel’s first king, Saul. Second Samuel begins with David learning of Saul’s death and carries us through most of David’s Kingship.

 A study of the life of David has been rich food for Christians for 2,000 years. There is much we can learn from the life of this key figure of the Old Testament.

Have you ever been to a church that had problems? I mean real problems? The church in Corinth was messed up six ways to Sunday, but Paul still found some good things to say about them. This month in Resting at the River’s Edge, we’ll dive into Paul’s two letters to the Corinthian church. Read along with us as we watch how this master church planter tries to straighten out this can of worms.

Enjoy!

To download a PDF of June’s reading schedule, click here.

Enjoy your time at the river’s edge this month!