"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" Psalm 46:10
How many of you know there's a VOLUME to the quiet? Maybe you've heard the statement, "The silence was deafening." Of course, that's usually in reference to a noticeable volume ceasing and giving rise to silence. Have you noticed how we tend to have selective hearing in whatever direction our heart is aimed for our own interests, pleasures, pressures, fears, etc.? Whichever is in greatest want or need has the priority of volume heard.
My wife, praying one morning before church, asked that "the Lord's voice would be magnified in our gathering of the saints." I understood that to simply mean there'd be a hearing of the Lord above all else with which we could be occupied. With that in mind, I felt the Lord drop a note of His own to me, "I'm always able to be louder than the commotion that's going on in your lives that you're listening to; the endless array of things that can pull against the concentration you might have toward Me." To this, I heartily agreed that He would raise His voice! Then came, "Better yet! Oh, that My people would live in the still long enough for the volume of My preeminence to be exalted over anything else in their lives."
I heard that! So much for His voice being raised, but what about every other voice in me being stilled?! That's only found in our willingness to STOP giving significance to the volume of everything else. "In the beginning was God," above and beyond all that was created! He was the Maker, the Originator of all and "for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things." In other words, everything works as it was meant to in perfect harmony in Him being Supreme, the First, the Highest… He must be the Attended-to-One in preeminence for us to know the flow that is above the fray of this fallen world as "a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God" (Ps.46:4).
Again, the directive given to all who live in the fray: BE STILL AND KNOW (have the certainty) THAT I AM GOD. Let ME be EXALTED over men, among nations, and especially in your EARTH.
Consider for a moment the phrase, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." However trite it may seem, those raucous wheels wear upon our hearing wanting the place of precedence, primacy and import in all we think and do. Unfortunately, we many times allow them to weigh against our faith that comes from hearing God unless we change our priority. How about "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these [other] things shall be added to you"? Gain comes from having ears to hear Him.
Have we gotten to the place where we just can't take the self-induced volume we allow? Are we weary of those discordant voices of distraction and detraction that can lead deceitfully to defection from the faith? Believing better things of us all, let's get to the place where our soul hungers for the Lord's voice to be exalted over the affairs of our lives. Let's begin the day with EXALTING HIM TO HAVE THE VOLUME that establishes His rule over our hearts and minds before the world can wake with its commotion and conflict. Note the play on words and do as David sang, "When I awake, I am still with You" (Ps.139:18).
Elijah knew that place of submission to God's sovereign rule over men, even nations. He gave the Lord that exalted place of priority in his life. And with that, God's STILL SMALL VOICE was the reigning volume over the volume of all else. The Strong Wind, Earthquake and Fire were mere background noise – they had no governance over what had become the presiding volume in Elijah. Are we moved when the nations rage? She shall not be moved who has God in the midst of her. Let Him utter His voice! (Ps.46:5-6).
The frequency of focusing on His voice in my life makes for familiarity with the frequency from which He speaks. Does this ring true? Have I exalted Him in my hearing to live "by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God?" Noise reduction happens effortlessly when we pick up, amplify and reverberate the brilliance of His voice who is exalted on High. Be still and know!
- DSC
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