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Psalm 46
8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
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.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Quiet Please.

I am repetitively convicted of my lack of giving God my loving attention. It is so very easy to let things slip, to drift, to take our prayers and devotions for granted merely as an exercise which we must undertake in order to be faithful. However, God does not need our devotion. He wants our fellowship. We need to be devoted so that we can cultivate the most important relationship in our lives- the one which Christ made possible.

I find that my own inconsistent behavior does not in the least affect his faithfulness to me and that is enough to draw me back to Him without condemnation. It is like going to seen an old friend who meets us at the door and says merely, “I am so glad to see you.”

Quiet is like a well cultivated garden in ground in which there would otherwise be weeds. It is possible to find an edible or two in a weed patch but if you want fruit you must cultivate the soil. So it is with the inner life of the believer. We must make a real effort to have periods of quiet and reflection in our lives in order to develop a heart that is receptive to God.

Quiet or rest is not the author’s idea. It is God’s idea in the institution of the Sabbath. Jesus comes to bring us rest in the otherwise confusion and activity of the world. In Him we learn to live in the Kingdom of completeness now. We are immersed in the Lord but surfing on the waves as one whose immersion is in the air. If we are not breathing Him we are drowning and don’t know it and are merely making frantic strokes underwater as if somehow we can live in the depths.

The measure of God is not man but most certainly the measure of man is God.