Rest Through Turmoil (Day 11)

Isaiah chapter 30, verse 15 tells us that “in quietness and trust is your strength.” Now, we know that God gives strength to the weary, so we need to ask Him for strength. We know that the joy of the Lord gives us strength, that having a pure heart and a clear conscience will give us strength

Those two qualities, quietness and trust, are things that don’t come naturally to most of us. They don’t come naturally probably to any of us. We live in a very loud, chaotic, busy, frenzied, frantic world, and it’s hard to find quiet. And let me say that quiet is not so much a matter of your environment as it is a matter of your inner spirit. You can have a quiet spirit before God, or a resting spirit before God, even if you have eight children in your home, or even if you’re working in an environment that is loud or secular.

But I do believe it’s important, when possible, to find ways and times to get a quiet environment to help us develop a quiet heart. For some of us, our world is loud and noisy not just because we have no choice, but some of us make choices that make our world loud and noisy.

some of us need to develop different habits as it relates to radio, television, media, computers, entertainment—things that make noise in our lives, things that keep us frazzled. Some of us are just in the habit of always having to have some electronic device in the “on” position. So we get in the car, we turn on the radio. We get in the house, we turn on the TV or the TVs, or the computer, or whatever is our fix.

I would say if you always have these things that make noise on in your life, you’re going to have a hard time having a quiet heart. Now, it may be that your husband turns those things on, and you cannot control his life in these areas. But you can control your choices in these areas.

There are times when you just need to make the choice that, "I’m not going to fill up the empty place of my life with noise. I’m going to discipline myself to pursue quietness."

There’s noise in your life that is good noise, that is appropriate and right noise, and it’s important as a mother and a wife that you not become resentful of those children and that husband who make noise in your life. We have some widows here who would be so thrilled to have a little of that noise back, but there are times when you do have a choice when it’s important to get that quiet time.

That’s one of the advantages to being an early riser. In most situations, that’s a way to get a quiet environment and a quiet heart before you go out into this very noisy world. For you, it may be late at night that is that quiet time. And then, in quietness and trust is your strength. Discipline your life for quietness and then steadfastly trust in God.

What deprives us and depletes us of strength to serve the Lord is that we worry about so many things. We’re anxious about so many things, and we need to learn to trust that God is in charge, He hasn’t fallen off His throne, and He doesn’t need me to fix the whole universe, or even my little part of it.

Trust Him to do what is good and what is right and to be the God and governor of the universe. And in that quietness and trust, you will find strength.

In whatever her season of life, she’s not doing things in a sloppy way or a haphazard way. Quality matters to this woman, and she’s able to stand back and look and see that the work of her hands has been good.

And, now this last phrase—some of you live by this verse, and some of you don’t like this verse at all—“her lamp does not go out by night,” or at night. the emphasis here is not on what time she goes to bed. The emphasis here, as in an earlier verse, where we saw that she was up before dawn, is that she’s a woman who’s diligent, and she does whatever is needed at whatever hours it’s necessary to minister to the needs of her family.

She’s up early if she needs to be; she’s up late if she needs to be, and in her waking hours, she’s gainfully occupied. You don’t see a picture of a woman who spends her evenings watching TV, or a woman who sleeps until 11 o’clock in the morning when there is work that needs to be done for her family.

I’m not telling you what time to get up. I’m not telling you what time to go to bed, because the Scripture doesn’t tell us that. But it does tell us that as women, we are to be industrious, and using the hours, the moments the Lord gives us in ways that are pleasing to Him.

So does that mean I never stop and have fun with my kids? Yes, you absolutely must stop and have fun with your kids! When it’s time to do that, then that is holy, then that is being virtuous, that is being excellent. But it does mean we don’t fritter away the precious moments and hours and days that God gives us, but that we use them in a way that is purposeful and intentional and intended for the glory of God.