Denis and I recently had a date night (woo hoo!) and we watched the movie Jesus Revolution at the theatres. The movie is based on the true story of Greg Laurie and a sea of young people that descend on sunny Southern California to redefine truth through all means of liberation. As it’s common when I watch movies, there was a quote that really struck me. In one scene Greg is really struggling with church conflict and what the right thing to do is. As he sits quietly on the couch with his wife, reflecting on what he should do, she states, “Truth is quiet. It’s the lies that are loud.” I can point to certain points in my life and find this quote to be true. We live in a world where we’re bombarded by content and opinions. We’re consistently asked to take a stance on a variety of issues, issues where opponents often speak loudly and, at times, aggressively. Emotions can take over at times and we find that we’re shouting to get a point across. So, what can we do with all this noise and borderline chaos of opinions? As it was quoted in the movie, we can get quiet.
To view being quiet as a strength is not typical. But then again, much of what Jesus taught was counter to what we’re used to. Our world thrives off being busy and constantly doing. These things can become so constant and so overwhelming that soon we don’t even know what it means to be quiet. We don’t have any down time in our day. There’s little to no margin to pray and to seek God’s will in what we’re doing. So, if we have lies in our life that we’re looking to combat, we’ve got to fight back to find the space and margin in our life for some quiet.
For myself personally, I can tell when I’ve not had sufficient quiet time in my life. I begin to feel more tense and stressed. My efforts feel like I’m striving, and I’m easily overwhelmed. It’s when I course correct and get back on track with a more intentional prayer time that the truth begins to quiet the noise again. And I find peace knowing that God is sovereign and is always with me.
I’m sure you can relate in some way. As much as we might even enjoy the things that we’re busy doing, we all need that moment of downtime. A moment to pause and reflect.
Jesus was a great example of getting quiet on a regular basis. Luke 5:15-16 says, “But despite Jesus’ instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness of prayer”.
Sometimes I look at my to-do list or my schedule for a day and think, “There’s no way I have time to slow down today”. And then I’m reminded of Jesus’ example again. Of all the people on earth who could claim to be the busiest, he still prioritized making time for solitude and prayer. He could have easily said, there are too many people to be healed, too many demons to cast out, too many sermons to write and too many baptisms to conduct. I’ll skip the quiet time today. But he didn’t. It was a regular rhythm in his life.
When I think of my schedule in the grand scheme of things, I can certainly devote 5, 10 or even 15 minutes to prayer, even on my busiest days. And it’s there in that prayer time that I can reflect on any potential lies that I might be battling. And once the lies are identified I can pray and ask God to speak truth over those lies and provide guidance on any matters that I might be struggling with.
What about you? Could you spare a few minutes each day to get quiet and hear the truth? As one good tik tok video put it, “A whisper is quiet in a loud room, but a whisper is loud is a quiet room”. Block out all the noise and make it a priority to hear from God. Open your Bible and read without interruption – even if it’s a few verses for a few minutes. I think you’ll be surprised at how much more peace you’ll have in hearing and knowing the truth. So, here’s to you being able to find more margin for a quiet time. May those whispers become loud in your life. 😉