Holy Hush
Do you ever have trouble sitting still and being quiet before the Lord? Does your mind ever race when you try to be still and pray? Sometimes we need a “holy hush” to come over our hearts, by the grace of Jesus.
An Answer That Raised More Questions
If you read last week’s blog post or listened to the podcast (called “Listen–Can You Hear Me Now), I asked a question at the end that I’m going to explore now, so if you haven’t read it or listened, you may want to go back and do so. If not, this is your official spoiler alert;).
That episode dealt with an interesting illustration from a real life occurrence, and the question was what you thought my husband would reply when I asked him afterward if he had stilled that rattle. VERY surprisingly, his answer was actually NO! He asked “what rattle”, and then proceeded to try to REPLICATE the sound so he could then fix it (remember, he hates rattles and noises like that! 🙂 That’s why I was trying to stop the sound in the first place.) But even when he pumped up the heat, it did not make any buzz. He went down to ring the doorbell, thinking maybe that had something to do with it, since it had malfunctioned at some point in the past. But again, no issues at all; it simply rang.
To say the least, that only ADDED to the mystery. That brief season of a few days of that mysterious sound was possibly only for the time it took for the meaning to sink in to my brain. Once the word picture became clear to me, and ever since then, the sound has totally disappeared. Make of it what you will. Regardless of where that sound truly ORIGINATED, the message still rings just as true in my heart, of us needing that place of stillness and calm, where the heavenly song (if you will) of true Love drowns out the loud clanging cymbal of what the world CALLS “love”.
A Quiet Heart
Hearing the Lord has been so much easier when I have deliberately quieted my heart. It’s so easy to be overwhelmed by all that goes on around us, whether in our personal lives, our relationships or the world at large. May He grant you, by His grace, moments of stillness and quiet in which you can be alone with Him and lay down your concerns, fears, desires, anxieties, sin, sorrow (etc.) at His feet.
1 Peter 5:7 (NIV) says “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Praise the Lord that He cares about all those things, AND that His desire is to lift those burdens OFF our shoulders to set us free.
The Voice of the Lord
You may or may not relate to this tendency, but my mind is often full of “chatter” (and frankly, I DO have a tendency to jabber in the flesh too!:) It’s hard to come before the Holy God, the Awesome One with a chattering mind. The times when his “voice” has been the most clear to my spiritual “ears” have been while making an effort to deliberately quiet that inner monologue. Rather than telling Him all the things on my mind, how He can answer prayers for me or loved ones, etc. there is a place of stillness and quiet and LISTENING for His amazing voice. During those moments, I’ve noticed at times that His voice sounds a WHOLE LOT like the Scriptures. His words are true, pure, holy, right and deep. Probably should NOT surprise me that the “Word” mentioned in John 1:1, when He speaks, would sound like the Word of God. LOL! He IS the Word. Yet another reason to read your Bible if you have yet to make that a routine….
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Scripture References Encouraging Stillness
Here are some beautiful passages to read and ponder on being still (by no means an exhaustive list, simply a place to start). It is not lost on me that some of the most beautiful scriptures about being still come from the Psalms, where David’s songs are recorded. For such a busy person, being the king of Israel (and often being on the run or in battle throughout his life), his heart was one of sitting still at the Father’s feet… A lesson that we would do well to heed. For this week’s podcast (linked below), you can listen to me read these verses if you’d like, beginning a little after the 5 minute mark.
Psalm 37:7
Psalm 89:8-9
Zechariah 2:10-13
Mark 4:35-39
Psalm 46
BTW, just realized a few words on the podcast were slightly misquoted by accident. They don’t really change the meaning much, but I want to note it for the record here. Here are the accurate words corrected in all CAPS:
Mark 4:36b should be “There were also other boats with HIM.”
Mark 4:39b should be “Then the WIND died down and it was completely calm.”
Psalm 46:3 should be “…though ITS waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”
Below you will find links to this week’s Manna From My Father’s Hand podcast (episode number 7–Stillness) on Spotify and YouTube.
Here it is on YouTube which may help you have more control over the player:
Stillness on YouTube
Click where it says YouTube, to help adjust the timing.
Be Still
The song associated with this blogpost and podcast is “Be Still” (on the Sacred Sojourn/Follow Me CD).
The video of this song below comes from a beautiful concert that happened to be recorded, from which several songs have been posted on my YT channel. Lord willing, as time permits I plan to upload a few remaining songs from that concert as well.
The beginning of this video explains the timing of the concert. It was shortly after one of the most devastating and profound storms that ever hit our area (northeastern US in the tri-state area). You likely recall it from the news, or from living through it yourself. It was nicknamed “Super Storm Sandy”. The storm was so powerful that it knocked out our power for quite a while, and the true impact of the storm was only realized by us later, after our power was finally restored and we could look at the video footage.
In the midst and aftermath of that storm (and many other physical and figurative “storms” in my life as well), the Lord’s faithfulness and grace stand out in strong contrast. Even that beautiful concert was a testimony to His goodness, especially personally, as so many of the songs dealt with similar themes. Probably is a recurring theme in my heart, testifying to the goodness of God in the midst of challenges and difficulty.
As you listen/watch, may the Lord minister His grace to YOUR heart, that whatever “storms” are going on for you or your loved ones right now, He is with you in the midst of it, and as the last line says “Be still, my weary, worried heart; be still, my harried, hurried heart. Be still; rest in Him, and know He’s God.”
May our ability to come before Him in quietness, stillness and reverence, with a “holy hush” increase daily as we spend time with Him and “in Him”, Jesus, the very Word of God.
Third Thursdays at Three In-Home Concert
Next week, istead of my blog/podcast, please join me LIVE for another “Third Thursdays at Three” mini in-home concert. If you can’t be there live, I’ll post the replay link in the blog next week so you can access it. The live concert will be on Thursday, March 21, 2024 at 3 PM Eastern time. Hope to see you there!
