Strength In Stillness

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength...” Isaiah 30:15 ESV

There is strength to be found in stillness.

Three years ago, my son Luke and I took a trip to visit the Alvord Desert, located in the southeastern corner of Oregon. Pictured above, the quiet Alvord Desert stretches about five miles wide and ten miles long. We spent the day exploring the desolate area in our aged Toyota Camry. It was a bit strange to drive on a cracked desert floor for miles without ever seeing any other cars or humans.

By the end of the day, it became obvious who the inexperienced adventurer was. As I sneaked peeks at the sun setting in the wide horizon, I knew we had better make our way back to the entrance in order to get back across miles of gravel road to the main highway. As I continued heading towards where I perceived the entrance to be, I noticed the Camry struggling a bit. Suddenly, however, we were slowed way down as the wheels stopped working. I opened the door, looked down and realized we were stuck in deep mud. Apparently, I had accidentally discovered the section of the Alvord Desert that even the monster trucks avoid! We tried digging around the wheels for a while and pressing the gas, only to experience sinking deeper into the mud. We looked in the distance and saw an abandoned truck that dwarfed our Camry in size. If the driver of that truck gave up on his truck climbing out of this mud, we knew we knew our little Camry had no chance. We were stuck.

Life sometimes finds us stuck. Maybe it is physical, emotional, relational, financial, or spiritual. Sometimes, the battles we feel stuck in are not ours to fight and cannot be won by trying harder or longer. Our rescue may come in the form of stillness, surrendering to the One who fights for us (see Exodus 14:14). When life is uncomfortable, my tendency is to search for solutions and find a path forward to easier days. This often only causes me to sink deeper into the mud.

As I was reading through Hosea this week, I was intrigued by the hedge of thorns placed around Hosea’s wife, Gomer. “Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her way with thorns. And I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths” (Hosea 2:6 NASB). Could it be that when life lands us in a thicket of thorns, fighting to get out would only bring us injury? What if the thorns around us are a Divine allowance from a God who fiercely loves us? Perhaps the thorns are a blessing in disguise, purposed to bring about a change in direction. Hedging us in serves to both move us away from things that may harm us and to stop us from continuing down a path that is pulling us away from greater intimacy with Him.

Isaiah uses four key words in Isaiah 30:15 to keep us from spinning our wheels in the mud-moments of life: returning, rest, quietness, and strength.

Returning

Returning to the Lord as our Comforting Counselor brings a truly blessed life! “Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and He will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah” (Acts 3:19-20 NLT).

“Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him” (Isaiah 30:18 NASB). The word “blessed” used here is the Hebrew masculine noun ‘esher’ - meaning a person’s state of bliss (NASB Old Testament Bible Dictionary). Jesus promises that all those who return to Him, those who come and wait at His feet, are happy! Happy are we who lay down our idols, regrets, and longings, and trade them all for waiting on the One who is absolutely trustworthy.

Rest

As we return to the Lord, we find ourselves living in His rest. There is victory in Jesus and peace for our souls found in our choice to return and rest, walking in step with the Spirit. This soul rest includes the position of our minds, surrendering our repeated attempts to fix things ourselves. It involves harnessing our thoughts and fixing them on the Lord. “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6 ESV). Rather than something we have to fight for, peace of mind and heart is a gift from Jesus (see John 14:27).

Quietness and Strength

Isaiah turns his attention next to teaching that our source of strength is found in quietness and trust, Quietness - Sha quat, “to repose, to settle, to be still; a verb meaning undisturbed” (NASB Old Testament Bible Dictionary). This quietness provides a sense of safety and security, even in the eye of a storm. Quietness is possible when we envision the Savior’s capacity. He is far more able than what we can imagine in our mind’s eye to bring peace, hope, and help. We are strong not because of our physical strength, but because of the all-sufficient grace supplied to us through our all-sufficient Savior living in us. In quietness, when we feel hurt that our pain is minimized or not understood, we can ask Jesus to hide us in His love. “For on the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; He will hide me in the secret place of His tent; He will lift me up on a rock” (Psalm 27:5 NASB).

Hidden in Christ, we are filled with supernatural peace, realizing that our Savior sees, hears, and understands better than any human ever could. This sets us free to experience the joy of self-forgetfulness as we are equipped to meet the needs of others out of a heart overflowing with His peace that surpasses our need to understand. His understanding reaches into the deepest rooms of our souls and says, “I am here, I won’t leave. You are not alone!” “How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension! (Psalm 147:5 NLT).

When life holds circumstances greater than our capacity to even imagine a solution, Jesus calls us into quietness and trust, much like how my babies would settle into my arms. They settled because they knew Momma was with them, and they trusted me to care for them.

Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes arrogant; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, Or in things too difficult for me. I have certainly soothed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child resting against his mother, My soul within me is like a weaned child. Israel, wait for the Lord. From this time on and forever. (Psalm 131 NASB)

As we quietly settle into our Father’s arms, we choose trust. Leaning completely and confidently on God, we no longer bear the weight of a self-reliant life. We are kept in perfect peace as we fix our mind on Him, because we trust in Him! (see Isaiah 26:3).

Even when we are caught in the thickets of trial, Yahweh Shalom, the Lord is our peace! In her book, Praying the Names of God, Ann Spangler writes:

Shalom is a Hebrew word, so much richer in its range of meanings than the English word “peace,” which usually refers to the absence of outward conflict or to a state of inner calm. The concept of shalom includes these ideas but goes beyond them, meaning “wholeness," "completeness," "finished word," “perfection,” “safety,” or “wellness.” Shalom comes from living in harmony with God. (p. 146)

Thankfully, on that day at the Alvord Desert my cell phone had a single bar of reception that enabled me to reach the main office. They sent a tow truck in time to rescue us from being stranded in the icy desert overnight. Whether we are stuck spinning our wheels or caught in a thicket of thorns, we will find rest in daily returning to our first love, Jesus Christ, and laying our burdens in his capable arms. In that place of quietness and trust, we find there is strength in stillness.

Lord, draw us deeply into Your presence today. We remember, Lord, that no mountain is immovable with You. No situation has us so stuck that You cannot be our rescue. Help us to return to You with our thoughts, longings, regrets, and sorrows. In you, we find our rest, our Shalom, our wholeness and completeness. We can live in Your presence daily through the power of the Holy Spirit, which causes us to be at peace with you, with others, and with ourselves. Let Your peace rule our hearts (see Colossians 3:12-17). Lead us to the Rock that is higher (see Psalm 62:1). Hide us until the storm has passed (see Psalm 57:1).