I am thinking back to a childhood hymn, “Trust And Obey.” You probably never did what I did, but my heart was not always silent when I was told to do something as a child. I remember inner arguments. 

How do you respond, when in the busyness of your life, you hear the Lord calling you to come to Him. It was His still small voice that shook Elijah. 1 Kings 19:11-12 recorded quite a dramatic and noisy display of God’s power. 

Verse 11-12 says, “…a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces…after the wind an earthquake…after the earthquake a fire…and after the fire a still small voice.”

The Lord often speaks to us with a still small voice in the midst of our chaotic days. Are we attentive? I like to pray Isaiah 30:21 in the first person. The verse says, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk in it, whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.”

Job 24:16 captures my heart. I use it as a prayer also. I don’t want to miss one of His whispered words. It says, “Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how shall a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?”

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Hold onto these words. Put them into a practice of stillness.

This verse has always intrigued me. Revelation 8:1 says, “When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”  Silence. No words. No singing. No worship.

Revelation 4:8 says, “The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

Verse 9 says that every time they gave glory and honor and thanks to the Lord, verse 10 says that the twenty-four elders worshiped. Verse 11 recorded their words, “You are worthy O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”

The way I read this passage means that it was constant, until that time of silence. How awe striking it must have been. It gives me expanded meaning to David’s words in Psalm 62. Verse 1 says, “Truly my soul silently waits for God…” Verse 5 was David’s instructions to himself. It says, “My soul, wait silently for God alone…”

Waiting carries an expression of expectation. Waiting in silence is the discipline of a heart yielded to the Lord. We yield through trust. Verse 8 says, “Trust in Him at all times you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.”

We are able to empty our heart of our own expectations only when we can fully trust. It is at that point, that we are able to be still. Until typing this, I don’t think I ever considered trust and silence together before.

Here is a great word picture of dwelling in stillness. Psalm 91:1 says, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” Can you picture yourself there?

John 15:4 Amplified says, “Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. (Live in Me, and I will live in you.) Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.”

Vitally means absolutely necessary or essential. John 15:5 is another verse that needs to be framed and hung on our heart’s wall. It says, “…for without Me you can do nothing.” It is an absolute truth that cannot be altered, or worked around. In short, it means to dwell through intimate communion~like Joshua lingered in God’s presence.

Our lives are hectic. We have planners, to-do-lists, alerts on our phones, or sticky notes tacked around to help us stay on track. I remember hearing Pastor Paul Yungi Cho saying something like when he was the most busy, he knew he needed to spend more time with the Lord in prayer.

Prayer and daily reading His word are both essential disciplines. However, intimate communion is as essential as breathing. Without breath we die. Without intimate communion we shrivel up into spiritual dehydration. Dwelling versus visiting, breathing in His Presence versus attending a church service. Bearing fruit, that glorifies the Lord, is the result of dwelling in stillness rather than the activity of doing.

Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu visited. Moses and Joshua dwelt. I love this passage in Exodus 33. I want to be like Joshua. Verse 7 says, “Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp.”

Verse 8 could very well describe someone who goes to church, but does not spend time daily in God’s word, and drinking in His Presence. It says, “…whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle.”

They were invited but they only watched. Verse 9 is glorious. It says, “…the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.” Verse 10 says that the people worshiped at their tent door. 

Verse 11 is often a picture in my heart. It says, “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp but his servant Joshua…a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.”

I believe that Joshua received his training as the next leader of the children of Israel from his quiet time before the Lord. He dwelt in His Presence. Our intimate communion with the Lord shapes our lives. He imparts His wisdom for our next step. Let nothing vie for your time with Him.

Francis Schaeffer wrote a book called, “How Should We Then Live?” It is a question I often ask myself when I read a passage of Scripture that brings inner conviction. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Sin means to miss the mark.

Straight arrows don’t miss their mark. They hit the bullseye. Authentic followers of Jesus are straight arrows. Sin causes us to veer off course. The truth of Romans 6:1-2 needs to be engraved on the walls of our heart. We do not have to sin!

It says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” In light of these two verses, I encourage you to ask yourself this question: how then shall I live?

The answer for us is in verses 11 and 12. They say, “…reckon yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”

Dead things have no ability to respond. We sin because we bite the hook of deception that satan so cleverly dangles before us. Living for ourselves versus living for Jesus is the drawn line in the sand.

Verse 13 says, “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin…”

Our bodies are the temple of the living God (1 Corinthians 6:19) and yet we still dare to sin. He dwells within us. 1 Peter 1:15 says, “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”

Here is the second part of the pile of pick up sticks. Why do we skirt around issues when confronted? Read this with me. In Exodus 32:3, Aaron intentionally requested that they break off their golden earrings and bring them to him.

Read verse 24 very carefully. Take in his actions fully into your mind. It says, “And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf…”

Read his words when Moses confronted him. Verse 21 is the confrontation, “…What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?” Aaron’s reply is in verses 22-24. You can read them. I want to pick up his statement at the end of verse 24. It says, “…I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out.”

What? Verse 25 sobers me. It says, “Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies).” Our sin (unrestraint) is displayed before our enemies. 

We forget what the Lord’s intent for His church is. Ephesians 3:10 says, “To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.”

Straight Arrows Hit Their Mark. That is a headline the Holy Spirit woke me up with. Have you ever played pick up sticks? That’s what it felt like. I had been stuck in Exodus 24 and 32 for days. The two different scenes were emblazoned in my mind. In Exodus 24, 70 children of Israel’s elders, along with Moses, Aaron, and two of Aaron’s sons were in the presence of the Lord on the mountain. 

In Exodus 32 Moses was confronting Aaron about the golden calf he had fashioned with his own two hands. You might wonder how this connected for me. Aaron’s two sons offered profane fire (Leviticus 10) and God killed them. Aaron departed from the Lord by creating a god.

How could Aaron do what he did? He was raised in a Hebrew home. His parents were of the priestly tribe of Levi. How could Nadab and Abihu depart so from their upbringing? Hebrews 3:12 says that we depart from God because of an evil heart of unbelief.

Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu were in the presence of Holy God. Exodus 24:10-11 says, “And they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity…So they saw God and they ate and drank.” 

Whew! Capture the scene in your mind. How do you think it would have affected the rest of your life? 2 Chronicles 5:13 says that the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud. Verse 14 says, “So that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.” That’s the power of His Presence.

All fiery darts are lies! They are designed to disrupt our minds, derail our walk of faith, and lure us to act independently of God. If we allow them to penetrate, then they become an internal stronghold that resists God’s word.

His word is designed to pull down strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4) but the fiery darts are designed to penetrate and set up strongholds that will continually resist us from receiving the truth of God’s word.

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God…” Psalm 62:5 says, “My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him.” Note how both verses take our focus directly to the Lord. He alone has true control over everyone’s life.

The lies that we have believed can control us emotionally, which carries over into the spiritual and physical aspect of our lives. They may seem more real than the truth of God’s word. because we have not yet embraced them. 

I know this was so true in my own life. I learned in 1993 that not all my thoughts were of my own origin. That set me on a delightful journey of inner deliverances that set me free through experiential truth.

Lies are noisy. They fight and scream for real estate in our thoughts. They want to push in and take over! They are designed to thwart our view of God’s perspective given to us in His word. 

Premeditation, presumptions, preoccupation, worry, anxiety, prejudice, being a man pleaser, and jumping to wrong conclusions all have one common denominator~mental gymnastics. 

Here is great instruction for us. These were Jesus’ words to those who would be persecuted for His name’s sake. We can make personal applications because we have the Holy Spirit within us. Though our situation may not be persecution, the principle remains. He will deliver us from satan’s trap of futile thoughts.

Luke 21:14-15 says, “Therefore settle it in your heart not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.”

We are the resisters of the one who seeks to resist us. It is essential to keep Peter’s words in our heart. 1 Peter 5:9 says, “Resist him, steadfast in the faith…” 1 John 5:4 says, “…And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”

We know from Paul’s words from Ephesians 6:10-17, that we have all the essential heart equipment to ward off the attacks of the evil one. Let me remind us of one in particular. Verse 16 says, “Above all. taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

God gave the children of Israel His 10 commandments. There was no wiggle room. Yet, the Pharisee’s added  to them through their own interpretations. Jesus pronounced woes on them in Matthew 23. Verse 3 says that Jesus spoke to the multitudes, “…whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.”

Verse 28 was another scathing rebuke which says, “Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” That is a perfect picture of a rebellious heart.

What do you say you do, but in fact your life does not match your words? I am always challenged by 1 John 2:6. It says, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”

How did Jesus walk? He was compassionate. Many of His miracles were rooted in compassion. One who harbors unforgiveness in their heart may appear righteous on the outside, however their heart is hard and they are not compassionate.

Jesus died to give us forgiveness of sins. I love Psalm 103:12. I straddled the Equator lines of north and south in Ecuador—they meet. David’s use of words always takes me back to that experience. It says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” The east and west never meet!

To rebel against His command to forgive AS we have been forgiven, leads to spiritual barrenness and lack.