The Power of Being Quiet.

The Power of Being Quiet.

We begin our message with a little story about Elijah.  Elijah in 1 Kings 19.  Elijah just defeated the prophets of Baal, gets a message from Jezebel that she is going to kill him.  He runs to Beersheba some 110 miles from Mt Carmel about 9 days walk.  Then walks a day into the desert, He gets depressed asks the Lord to kill him, falls asleep, gets woken up by an angel eats a meal that last him for the journey to Mt Horeb some 40 days later.  He spend the night in a cave on the Mountain, God meets with Him and asked Him what he is doing here.  He complains and then God asks him to stand on the mountain.  Then there is wind, an earthquake, fire and God still not speak but after all the noise He speaks in a still small voice.

Often our world is blowing apart, shaking and seems on fire.  Yet the force of God will not be heard.  It is heard in the still small voice, the voice of the word, prayer and going to the house.  Talk about the lady you met an Ironwood.  Our text today is

Psalm 46:10

10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

    I will be exalted among the nations,

    I will be exalted in the earth

-          The root word in the Hebrew of this verse is Rapha, which means to release and let go.  A better way of looking at it is this.  Cause yourself to let go.  To surrender, let go and even to die to ourselves.  Rom 12:1-2, talk about this.

-          Another way to let at this phrase.  Is let go and let God have control.  Jesus di.  In fact he said, that He only did the will of the Father.  We let God to know the saving power of God.  Ex 14:14 gives us an exhortation to giving up in trusting ourselves and our designs in or der to experience the fullness of God`s all sufficiency. 

-          -When we surrender to the truth that God is in control we receive peace from the Lord and our release from our temporal fears.  In other words stop striving and let go and let God handle the situation,.  Paul said the same thing in Phil 4:6-7, when he said be anxious for nothing but with prayer and supplication let your request be known to God.  In other words.  God has is covered.

-          Peter said, in 1 Pet 5:7, to cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you.  So I want you right now to cup you hands imagine all your cares, fears and problems in that cup, now lift it up to the Lord and now release it to Him. 

The Lord then says. Be still and know that I am God.

Five reasons to be still.

1.        You can hear things.

2.       The outside world and its voices are in time silenced.  All distractions are eliminated.

3.       You have a time to reflect, re-calibrate, focus, plan and rejuvenate.

4.       You get to stop and see the world for all its beauty for a moment.

5.       The Holy Spirit can talk to you when you are quiet.   The word and prayer and more real and meaningful when you are quiet.  Talking can be overrated.

The modern Quaker writer Arthur O. Roberts succinctly outlines the characteristics of silence. Roberts shows silence not as formal worship but as private reflection that nurtures the individual in the recognition of solitude. In his Devotions on Silence, Roberts writes that silence

  1. fosters awe before the Almighty;

  2. indicates submission to God;

  3. provides a posture for worship;

  4. provides freedom from noise and distraction;

  5. condition for tranquility;

  6. sets the stage for prayer;

  7. signifies respect for others;

  8. renews wonder at the world;

  9. provides holy space;

10. prepares for effective social witness.

Then practice 3 minutes of silence.  What did God say?