Listen and Be Quiet

by Helen Dowd


"Take heed and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted." Isaiah 7:4.

God gave Isaiah this message to take to Ahaz, king of Judah. He was in a pretty tight spot. Two kings were after him. One of them was the King of Assyria, the head of a very large nation. The other was the king of Israel. Ahaz was very frightened, and I think he must have been a little puzzled, too, to have his own countryman after him. Remember, Israel was at one time united; but in the days Rehoboam, Solomon's son, it was split into two kingdoms: north and south. But that is not what this study is about. That was just a bit of background.

In Ahaz' situation, he had a right to be afraid. But God told him to STOP. He said, "Listen, and be quiet." We cannot listen if we are not quiet.

Some days I get a panicky feeling because there are not enough hours in the day to do all the things there are to be done. My mind is in such a turmoil, with many voices screaming at me. Why cannot I listen? Because my mind is not quiet.

In front of me, on my computer, I have pasted some inspirational verses. God pointed them out to me. It was like He was shouting: "READ THEM!" to make me hear, to make me be quiet Here are the verses:

Proverbs 16:3 "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.

Psalm 46:5 "God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early."

Job 34:29 "When He giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?" (And remember the predicament Job was in.)

Psalm 107:29 "He maketh the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still."

These are only a few of the hundreds of verses which God could have pointed out, but these were right in front of my eyes. He was yelling at me to "BE QUIET!

I wonder why it is that I can't learn just to "Rest in the Lord."