Living by Faith: Quietness

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Henry Thoreau observed that the mass of men lead lives of quiet, desperation. In our culture of pressure and noise, true quietness of soul is somewhat of a rarity. The American heart is often filled with anxiety and stress, but the meta-narrative of God's Word offers freedom from the frantic search for continual control.

Psalm 37 holds rich truth to help us view the world around us with confident faith, a faith in our Father that allows our souls to rest. Let's listen to this message titled, Living by Faith, Quietness. What gets you riled up? Or what makes you annoyed or fills you with anxiety? It could be a political topic. It could be someone's name.

It could be a news story of great injustice. Or it could be something as simple as a certain task or a memory. Sometimes a memory is triggered by a sound.

Sometimes even a smell. Maybe you could face anxiety in a particular circumstance or a place. It's an issue for all of us, isn't it?

We can get riled up. Increasingly today, teenagers and college students report overwhelming anxiety from a study that was made, many of them say, I'm overwhelmed by all I had to do, all I have to do. They say, quote, I never get to the point where I can say I've done enough and now I can stop. They have a sense that they're not measuring up. Also, mothers feel increasing anxiety about parenting.

Why? Because more than ever, they are accomplishing the intensely demanding tasks of child rearing on their own. Here's the title of an article that I read on this matter. Mommy, Daddy and Their Precious Little Bundle of Data. How information collection, obsessive apps and technological advances are making parents more paranoid than ever. It's a long title for an article, isn't it?

But it says a lot. This is how we're living today. The information glut is not necessarily our friend, is it? And one study clearly says in the U.S. anxiety is at an all time high because of reasons like national security, the fear of a disaster or some epidemic or even personal safety. It says one researcher, quote, it is an understatement to say that anxiety level is high and we live in very uncertain times. Now, instead of thinking us collectively as a society, bring it down personally. What gets me riled up?

What fills me with anxiety? You ready to be honest before the Lord this morning? Then let the Lord work in your hearts.

Bring him into this emotion that can fill you. Psalm 37 verses 7 to 9 are our text this morning. Turn there with me. Psalm 37, be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. That is the disposition of Psalm 23, isn't it? The Psalm that we just read. It's a very, very well known Psalm. But what we're studying is what it looks like to live by faith. Psalm 37 is all about living by faith. And from this brief text here this morning, verses 7 to 9, living by faith looks like quietness. Quietness.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Now, some of you in here this morning are type A personalities. And some of you are really quite the extrovert. You have the gift of gab. And you're saying, you mean I have to change who I am to live by faith?

No, that's not what I'm saying at all. But I want you to stay with me, okay? Stay with me through this.

Don't check out. Let me tell you why. Because following God is not contingent upon your personality.

Okay? The Word of God is the Word of God. And it is brought to bear upon all people of all personalities. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Notice that it does not just say be still, does it?

What does it say? Be still before the Lord. That gives you context, doesn't it? That gives you reference.

I also want to point out something else here too. This is not so much a you should be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Because some of you are feeling that right now.

You're feeling the anxiety or the fear. Something gets you riled up and you're thinking, yeah, but a Christian is supposed to be still before the Lord. Stop that, okay? Stop that.

This is not God pointing his finger at you and saying, you need to be still. I was listening to the radio this past week and I was listening to Greg Laurie on the radio and he was telling us an account of when he took his son to teach him to go diving. You've got all this scuba gear on your back, 80 pounds worth, right? And you have to fall back off the boat into the ocean backwards.

Seems counterintuitive. But they first learn in a pool, right? So they get all the gear on, they go underwater, learn how to breathe and all of this stuff. They go through all kinds of scenarios. So the first day they go out and Greg himself is certified, right?

So he wants his son Jonathan to be certified. They go out on the day into the ocean first time it goes out into the deep and they have to fall off the boat backwards. And there's a lot of waves. It's a bit of a stormy day, right? And they get into the water and Greg certified diver is alarmed and he's certified. So he's wondering what his son Jonathan is going through. Jonathan is also alarmed.

He's starting to panic. But the trainer knew what was going on in Jonathan's heart and mind. And he says, Jonathan, look at me, look at me.

And Jonathan looked at him. And he says, remember your training. Remember what I told you. Remember what you've learned.

Whatever has you filled with anxiety this morning, whatever gets you riled up, hear the Lord standing before you with the deep love and care that He has for you in all of His perfect goodness. And He's telling you, look at me, look at me. Remember what I told you.

Can you do that? He's not pointing his finger at you. He's going like this, look at me. This is what David is presenting. Psalm 31 verse 2, I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother is my soul within me. The NIV translates that last phrase like a leaned child, weaned child with my mother. I am content. It's a beautiful picture, isn't it?

Is there any more poignant a picture, tender of a picture than a child leaning against its mother in confident contentment. This is from David. David was a man's man. David was the commander of a powerful army. He was the king of a nation. He was a prophet. And he says this, I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother.

I am content. This is what God invites us to when He says, look at me. And this presents itself internally.

The quietness is an internal quietness. Because you and I are made in the image of God, it is the selective power of what occupies our minds. The selective power of what occupies your mind. And by the way, if you're riled up about something, it's not like you can just say, all right, stop thinking about it. You can't not think about something, okay? You have to replace that thought with something else.

Hear the Lord saying, look at me. It is the selective power of what occupies your mind. But it also manifests itself externally with a disposition of peace. If what's going on internally is a constant state of alert in self-preservation, then externally you will not be presenting a disposition of peace. You will be fretting.

You will likely be rude and arrogant. But the Lord calls us to quietness. It was Jesus who said, blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. You cannot be a peacemaker if fret is raging on the inside. There must be quietness. Now I want us to make something very clear here this morning because it says, be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 AM.