Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | Be still and know that I am God… The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Psalm 46:10-11

There is an awesome sound to quiet—something that we mortals seldom hear because of the din and noise of life today. Babies don’t come into the world with earphones attached, but it’s amazing how quickly the blare of noise and dissonance of life today drowns out the still voice of solitude and quiet. I’m reminded of the student who left the farm and went to a large city where he went to college. The only apartment he could find was one which butted up against the subway trains. At first, it was impossible for him to sleep—the noise of the subway cars was deafening, but he had no more money to improve his housing. And—as you might have guessed—he eventually got used to it.

One night, however, he woke up with a start. “Something’s wrong!” he immediately sensed. Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he asked himself, “What is it?” And then he knew—the subway trains had stopped running and it was deathly still. It was the quiet which woke him up.

Long ago God through the psalmist said, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Is there profit in times of quiet reflection that come only when the TV has been turned off, the earphones removed, and the incessant chatter of meaningless conversation abandoned? Indeed there is.

A man who spent years of life in an English jail for opposing the formalities of the state church wrote, “If we have not quiet in our minds, outward comfort will do no more for us than a golden slipper on a gouty foot.” His name? John Bunyan—the most widely read author ever to write a sentence in English.

Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher, scientist, and author, added this to Bunyan’s comments. “All the misfortunes of men spring from their not knowing how to live quietly at home in their own rooms.”

At the top of today’s guidelines I said that there is an awesome sound to quiet. Have you made that discovery? Never shall I forget the time I sat on a rock I later called “pulpit rock” high in the Rocky Mountains and memorized Psalm 46. For several hours that morning I listened to the wind, the gentle noise of chipmunks who chattered, an occasional squirrel who angrily voiced his dissent to the birds stealing his food, and just listened to the sound of the earth turning on it’s axis, or so it seemed to me. I will never forget that morning.

Walk through the forest, sit on a beach, go into your back yard and look up at the stars and get a fix on God, which comes only through quietness and solitude. There is benefit in quiet solitude which allows you to hear God’s voice and to hear your heart which can blend in harmony as you say, “Yes, Lord, more than anything else I want what you want. Speak to my soul and guide me with your strong hand.”

Following the injunction, “Be still and know that I am God,” the psalmist testifies, saying, “The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Psalm 46:11). After he put his head on a stone for a pillow as he fled for his life, Jacob had a dream in which God revealed Himself. When he awoke he cried out, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it” (Genesis 28:16). That may well be how it is with you, friend.     Be still and know that He is God, that He speaks to us through His Word, that He witnesses His presence with our spirits, and that He will guide and direct His own.

Resource reading: Psalm 46.