Is there any note in all the music of the world as mighty as the grand pause? Is there any word in the Psalms more eloquent than the word “Selah,” meaning pause? Is there anything more thrilling and awe-inspiring than the calm before the crashing of the storm, or the strange quiet that seems to fall upon nature before some supernatural phenomenon or disastrous upheaval? And is there anything that can touch our hearts like the power of stillness?

For the hearts that will cease focusing on themselves, there is “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7); “quietness and trust” (Isaiah 30:15), which is the source of all strength; a “great peace” that will never “make them stumble” (Psalm 119:165); and a deep rest, which the world can never give nor take away. Deep within the center of the soul is a chamber of peace where God lives and where, if we will enter it and quiet all the other sounds, we can hear His “gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:12).

Even in the fastest wheel that is turning, if you look at the center, where the axle is found, there is no movement at all. And even in the busiest life, there is a place where we may dwell alone with God in eternal stillness.

There is only one way to know God: “Be still, and know.” “The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him” (Habakkuk 2:20).

All-loving Father, sometimes we have walked under starless skies that dripped darkness like drenching rain. We despaired from the lack of light from the sun, moon, and stars. The gloomy darkness loomed above us as if it would last forever. And from the dark, there spoke no soothing voice to mend our broken hearts. We would gladly have welcomed even a wild clap of thunder, if only to break the torturing stillness of that mournfully depressing night.

Yet Your soft whisper of eternal love spoke more sweetly to our bruised and bleeding souls than any winds that breathe across a wind harp. It was Your “gentle whisper” that spoke to us. We were listening and we heard You, and then we looked and saw Your face, which was radiant with the light of Your love. And when we heard Your voice and saw Your face, new life returned to us, just as life returns to withered blossoms that drink the summer rain.

Inner stillness is an absolute necessity to truly knowing God. I remember learning this during a time of great crisis in my life. My entire being seemed to throb with anxiety, and the sense of need for immediate and powerful action was overwhelming. Yet the circumstances were such that I could do nothing, and the person who could have helped would not move.

For a time it seemed as if I would fall to pieces due to my inner turmoil. Then suddenly “a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12 KJV) whispered in the depths of my soul, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). The words were spoken with power and I obeyed. I composed myself, bringing my body to complete stillness, and forced my troubled spirit into quietness. Only then, while looking up and waiting, did I know that it was God who had spoken. He was in the midst of my crisis and my helplessness, and I rested in Him.

This was an experience I would not have missed for anything. I would also say it was from the stillness that the power seemed to arise to deal with the crisis, and that very quickly brought it to a successful resolution. It was during this crisis I effectively learned that my “strength is to sit still.” HANNAH WHITALL SMITH

There is a perfect passivity that is not laziness. It is a living stillness born of trust. Quiet tension is not trust but simply compressed anxiety.

Not in the turmoil of the raging storm, Not in the earthquake or devouring flame; But in the hush that could all fear transform, The still, small whisper to the prophet came.

O Soul, keep silence on the mount of God, Though cares and needs throb around you like a sea; From prayers, petitions, and desires unshod, Be still, and hear what God will say to thee.

All fellowship has interludes of rest, New strength maturing in each level of power; The sweetest Alleluias of the blest Are silent, for the space of half an hour.

O rest, in utter quietude of soul, Abandon words, leave prayer and praise awhile; Let your whole being, hushed in His control, Learn the full meaning of His voice and smile.

Not as an athlete wrestling for a crown, Not taking Heaven by violence of will; But with your Father as a child sit down, And know the bliss that follows His “Be Still!” MARY ROWLES JARVIS

A woman who had made rapid progress in her understanding of the Lord was once asked the secret of her seemingly easy growth. Her brief response was, “Mind the checks.”

The reason many of us do not know and understand God better is that we do not heed His gentle “checks”—His delicate restraints and constraints. His voice is “a gentle whisper.” A whisper can hardly be heard, so it must be felt as a faint and steady pressure upon the heart and mind, like the touch of a morning breeze calmly moving across the soul. And when it is heeded, it quietly grows clearer in the inner ear of the heart.

God’s voice is directed to the ear of love, and true love is intent upon hearing even the faintest whisper. Yet there comes a time when His love ceases to speak, when we do not respond to or believe His message. “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and if you want to know Him and His voice, you must continually listen to His gentle touches.

So when you are about to say something in conversation with others, and you sense a gentle restraint from His quiet whisper, heed the restraint and refrain from speaking. And when you are about to pursue some course of action that seems perfectly clear and right, yet you sense in your spirit another path being suggested with the force of quiet conviction, heed that conviction. Follow the alternate course, even if the change of plans appears to be absolute folly from the perspective of human wisdom.

Also learn to wait on God until He unfolds His will before you. Allow Him to develop all the plans of your heart and mind, and then let Him accomplish them. Do not possess any wisdom of your own, for often His performance will appear to contradict the plan He gave you. God will seem to work against Himself, so simply listen, obey, and trust Him, even when it appears to be the greatest absurdity to do so. Ultimately, “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28), but many times, in the initial stages of the performance of His plans:

In His own world He is content To play a losing game.

Therefore if you desire to know God’s voice, never consider the final outcome or the possible results. Obey Him even when He asks you to move while you still see only darkness, for He Himself will be a glorious light within you. Then there will quickly spring up within your heart a knowledge of God and a fellowship with Him, which will be overpowering enough in themselves to hold you and Him together, even in the most severe tests and under the strongest pressures of life. WAY OF FAITH

When a man loses heart, he loses everything. To keep one’s heart in the midst of life’s stream and to maintain an undiscourageable front in the face of its difficulties is not an achievement that springs from anything that a laboratory can demonstrate or that logic can affirm. It is an achievement of faith.

If you lose your sky, you will soon lose your earth.

From under the juniper tree Elijah is called into an audience with the King of Kings. While listening to his own defeated wail, the accents of the still small Voice fall upon his weary ear. God refused him his unworthy request; rested him from his service; reminded him that he was still needed; and returned him to his work. He thought his work was done and that life had left him in the shadows. God says: “No, I am commissioning you to go forth and anoint kings and prophets, and climax the service of other days.”

Not till His hour strikes is our day done; as long as we live, we serve the King!

The tempter is always ready to take advantage of a time of weariness and reaction.

He loves to fish in troubled waters.

Juniper trees make poor sanctuaries.

It is good to have things settled by faith, before they are unsettled by feeling.

Some twenty years ago a friend gave me a book entitled True Peace . It had an old medieval message and this one primary thought—tha t God was waiting in the depths of my being to speak to me if I would only be still enough to hear His voice.

I assumed this would not be a difficult thing to do, so I tried to be still. No soon er had I begun to do so than complete pandemonium seemed to break loose. Suddenly I heard a thousand voices and sounds from without and within, until I could hear nothing except these incredible noises. Some were my own words, my own questions, and even my own prayers, while others were temptations of the Enemy , and the voices of the world’ s turmoil.

In every direction I turned, I was pushed, pulled, and confronted with indescribable unrest and overwhelming noises. I seemed compel led to listen to some of them and to respond in some way. But God said, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Then my mind was filled with worries over my responsibilities and plans for tomorrow , and God said again, “Be still.”

As I listened and slowly learned to obey , I shut my ears to every other sound. Soon I discovered that once the other voices ceased, or once I ceased to hear them, “a gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:12) began to speak in the depths of my being. And it spoke to me with an inexpressible tenderness, power , and comfort.

This “gentle whisper” became for me the voice of prayer , wisdom, and service. No longer did I need to work so hard to think, pray, or trust, because the Holy Spirit’ s “gentle whisper” in my heart was God’ s prayer in the secret places of my soul. It was His answer to all my questions, and His life and strength for my soul and body . His voice became the essence of all knowledge, prayer, and blessings, for it was the living God Himself as my life and my all.

This is precisely how our spirit drinks in the life of our risen Lord. And then we are enabled to face life’s conflicts and responsibilities, like a flower that has absorbe d the cool and refreshing drops of dew through the darkness of the night. Yet just as dew never falls on a stormy night , the dew of His grace never covers a restless soul. A. B. S IMPSON