POISE OVER PRESSURE

For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not – Isaiah 30:15

I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man’s being unable to sit still in a room. – Blaise Pascal

“…In every age God has His men who have retired from life’s noise and confusion, have withdrawn from its ambitions and jealousies, and have entered into the secret of a life that is hidden in God.

This doesn’t mean that these men necessarily escape from life’s dangers and dilemmas, but it does mean they have the ability to live with tranquillity in the midst of them. Though much trouble may remain, confusion, apprehension, instability, and despair have begun to dwindle away. These are the “quiet men” who show poise under pressures, who are unshaken by life’s alarms and who radiate wisdom and peace wherever they go…

Ordinary men, unfamiliar with the hidden depths of God, necessarily live busy, fussy, ambitious, care-ridden lives. They’re always fretful, always restless, always looking for that illusive “something more.”

But those who have learned to turn their energies toward God can be calm in the hustle and bustle of the marketplace as well as the tedium and weariness of the commonplace, quiet in the midst of life’s homeliest duties and excessive demands.

F. B. Meyer says that most of us are like folks living in a one-room house located too close to the street. There’s no way to get away from the noise and commotion outside. But we can build a soundproof room within and make it our dwelling place – a secret chamber to ponder God’s word and talk things over with him.

“We fill our little space,” Meyer says, “we get our daily bread and are content; we enjoy natural and simple pleasures; we do not strive, nor cry, nor cause our voice to be heard in the street; we pass through the world, with noise-less tread, dropping a blessing on all we meet.”

It’s in that quiet place that we learn peace and bring that peace out to others. George MacDonald…put it this way: “There is a chamber – a chamber in God Himself which none can enter but the one, the individual, the particular man. Out of which chamber that man has to bring revelation and strength for his brethren. This is that for which he was made – to reveal the secret things of the Father.”

We’re distracted because we’ve lost that orientation, but we can learn again to be quiet. We can take our anxious worry and nervous energy to Jesus. When people disappoint us we can confide in Him. When storms sweep over us we can hide in Him. When people jostle one another and jockey for position, when they compete for fame and fortune and their passions begin to stir us we can run to that little chamber, shut the door and quiet our hearts again. We can be calm and strong…”