Quietness

Quietness

1 Kings 6:7 “And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.”

When Solomon's temple was built is was built in quietness. The hewn stones were quarried out of the mountains, and every stone was fitted for it’s place in the temple, hewn, polished and tested before it was brought to Jerusalem.. When all was brought to the ground, the building went together without the sound of axe or hammer. It was built noiselessly. It was built in quietness.

God is calling me to be a temple built in quietness.

 Quietness.

Isa 46:10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God..”

It is when I am still that I can truly hear the quietness and truly know God.

The Hebrew word “quietness” in the verses below means to be quiet, be tranquil, be at peace, be quiet, rest, lie still, be undisturbed. The word is Shaqat and is pronounced shaw-kat. It is translated in the different verses below as quietness, rest and safely.

Isa 32:17 “The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.”

God is calling me to righteousness. It is here in His righteousness that I can experience the effects of it...they are His quietness and assurance in my life.

Isa 30:15

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:

“In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

God tells me the strength He gives me is found in quietness and confidence in Him.

Josh 11:23

So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.

True quietness ( rest) can only come to me when I lay down my battles, stop warring and struggling and surrender to Him. To place everything small and great at the foot of the cross.

Jer 46:27

“But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed , O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return , and be in rest and at ease , and none shall make him afraid”

I love how God calls me to not fear...to be truly unafraid is found only in quietness ( rest) with Him. God is taking me out of captivity and bondage to self and darkness and into a place of quietness and freedom. He will also take my children to that place of quietness and freedom.

Ezekiel 38:11 ”You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’—”

The context of this verse refers to the enemies of God’s people seeing them dwelling peacefully and they desire to come up against them to attack and God promises deal with the situation.

Those who dwell in quietness ( safely)  are open, vulnerable and without walls...there are no bars to shut them in...no gates to hide behind. They are open and secure. Satan may see that and desire to attack us thinking it is a weakness but truly it is a strength for God promises deliverance and protection.

Isa 57:20 “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”

Without God’s righteousness in my life I will be like a troubled sea. All the mire and dirt of hurt and shame will be tumbling over and over in my mind. Only in His righteousness can I have true rest.

God is calling me to His righteousness. He calls me out of the life of troubled tumbling thoughts, of lies, of anger, of unforgiveness towards others, of shame, of guilt. He calls me from the mire that churns over and over in my mind. He calls me to be vulnerable, to be open, to not be shut down and hiding. He wants to take me out of bondage into freedom. He wants my children to be taken out of bondage too. He calls me to stop warring and battling and struggling. He wants me to surrender all the lies, all the unforgiveness, all the anger, all the shame, all the darkness, all the hurt and all the pain to Him. He wants me to hear quietness in my soul. To no longer hear the churning sea. To be still and hear His quietness and to know that He is God. My God. My sovereign King. The One whom my soul loves.

Isa 32:17 “The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.”