A Quiet Heart

"Jesus slept on  a pillow in the midst of a raging storm.

How could He?

The terrified disciples, sure that the next wave would send them straight to the bottom,

shook Him awake with rebuke. How could He so careless of their fate?

He could because He slept in the calm assurance that His Father was in control.

His was a quiet heart.

We see Him move serenely through all the events of His life - when He was reviled,

He did not revile in return.

When He knew that He would suffer many things and be killed in Jerusalem,

He never deviated from His course.

He had set His face like flint. He sat at supper with one who would deny Him

and another who would betray Him, yet He was able to eat with them,

wiling even to wash their feet.

Jesus, in the unbroken intimacy of His Father's love, kept a quiet heart."

I love these words of Elisabeth Elliot, in her book Keep A Quiet Heart. I'm inspired not only by her insight in these words, but by the way she lived them out. Many of you know her story. She waited five years for God to show her His will for her life with Jim Elliot, and whether or not they were called to be together. After only a couple years of marriage, Jim was martyred, and she was left alone, only to choose to go back and minister to the people who killed her husband, and forgive them. She was widowed twice, and experienced more tragedy than most of us can imagine. But, through it all, she kept a quiet heart. She was able to forgive, and to pour her life out drawing others closer to God, not because of who she was, but because of who she committed herself to. She trusted and loved God with all of her heart, soul, mind and strength, and rested in the knowledge of Him.

Anxiety is something with which we all wrestle, at some point. With school starting back up, it's easy to become overwhelmed by workloads and circumstances. This year is my last year of high school, and even the first week of the semester has brought much more change than I expected. Change hurts sometimes. It carries such a weight of uncertainty. This week, I watched some close friends move away to college. Not only was it hard to see them go, knowing how much we would miss them, but I was reminded that it would be my turn soon. And, even though God has given me a general direction of what the next step should be, there are still so many unknowns. I haven't decided on a college, or a major, even though I know the field I want to study. And beyond college, I have no idea what the plan might be.

I think we're used to hearing the idea that we're not in control. But how often does that translate into actually believing that we're not the ones writing our stories?  We structure our days, as though our time was our own. Is it?

Or think about your dreams for the future, whatever they might be. Are you able to bring them to completion on your own?

As humans, we are so often under the illusion that we are in control of our circumstances. And when something happens to show us the painful truth that we're not as sovereign as we thought, it's easy to become overwhelmed and afraid.

But here's what we forget: we were never in control to begin with. Even when we were blinded by the illusion of control, the reality didn't change. God always knew the plan. He always held the pen. He always knew what was best, and His promise to work all things for the good of those who love Him was unchanging.

He is in control, no matter what might come against us. The disciples were in the middle of a storm, about to lose their lives. But God was still in control. Jesus had peace, because He rested in that fact that His Father was on the throne.

This past week, I've been reflecting on Job 38, specifically verse 4. When Job cries out to God, asking for answer to His suffering, God doesn't give him a straight answer. Even though Job thought he wanted a reason for his pain, that wasn't what he needed. Instead of answering as Job wanted, God reminded him of who He was. "Where were you, when I laid the foundations of the earth? .... Who shut the sea behind doors?" 

Through these verses, God gave His servant a quiet heart. We are only a breath... a fleeting moment... from dust we were created, and to dust we will return. But God is eternal. He is beyond time. He laid the foundations of the earth. Why do we trust in ourselves instead of Him?

We are not in control. We never were, and it can be terrifying to come to that realization.

But the God who laid the foundations of the earth is holding your heart in His hands. In Him, we are safe through the storms of life.

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Worship Song: 

"Let the Waters Rise",
by Mikeschair