Quiet Times and Places

Well, during my pre-teen years as I was growing up and then into my teenage years, I had a hobby that developed and actually matured along, and that was building forts. Wherever we lived, I just loved to build forts. And of course, growing up in a military family, my dad was in the Navy as I was growing up. We moved frequently every two to three years, generally. And as such, each relocation provided me with a unique opportunity to construct, again for myself, my own personal retreat.

You know, these forts were really actually something that were quite special to me personally. My first work was built behind our house in Jacksonville, Florida, when I was about 10 years old. I was constructed out of discarded debris, basically, from our house. We were living through a remodeling project at the time, and as my dad would rip out old materials from the house and stack them in the burn pile in the backyard, I would sort through that scrap and find whatever boards or materials I could pull out of there.

And I would find his box of nails and would start nailing things together wherever I could, and I dutifully built then the structure. Now, over the years, most of my forts had great views. This particular one overlooked the inter-coastal waterway, our house there in Jacksonville, Florida, the property backed right up to the inter-coastal waterway, which went by. In fact, I'd spent many hours as a kid out of my grandparents' dock. They were next door. They had a dock that went out there, and I'd be out at the end of that dock with a fishing pole or a casting net, catching all kinds of stuff out of the waterway that nobody would want to eat.

Maybe one catch in five was okay, but you throw the eels back, you throw the hammerhead sharks back, all those things you can pull out of the water. But here, my fort, as it was built then, sat there with that million-dollar view, at least by today's standards. We took a trip back to Florida, I think it was probably 12-15 years ago, and we swung by where I used to live.

The house is gone. The property was prime real estate, or it is now, and the house itself was leveled, and a mansion now sits in its place. It's literally a multi-million-dollar property, and I could say, my fort was right there, overlooking the waterway. As I recall, that fort wasn't a lot to look at, but it was a learning experience. I found out very quickly that old drywall doesn't hold up well in the Florida rains, you know, two or three rains, and that's sagging in on you, and that a screen door doesn't make a very good roof.

I mean, it might provide some good ventilation, and it was kind of neat to have something on hinges that I could open and close. It was the old front screen door from the house. It was discarded as scrap, but again, it was a learning experience. But that fort was my place of solitude. It's a place I would go to be alone, to think, to have a space that was to my own. I read a lot of Hardy Boy books in that fort.

You know, that's what young boys used to do before PlayStation came along. We read Hardy Boy books, and we had, my brother and I, had the whole collection. And whenever we moved, I would have to leave that fort behind, and I would have to start again. So as we came up to a new place, and my parents found a new piece of property, I'd quickly survey the scene, and I would consider what my option might be for constructing the next eyesore on their property.

Because, again, these were free materials, right? I was a kid. It's like, what can I tie together, hammer together, string together to make my fort? And I dutifully go into work, then, to scrounge up, again, whatever materials I could find. Besides Jacksonville, Florida, I built a fort overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Pacific Beach, Washington. That's out on the Olympic Peninsula. It's a little bit north of ocean shores. Again, Darla and I, I think that was last summer, we actually, we were at a ministerial conference over on the Oregon coast, and so, coming back, we swung up around the Olympic Peninsula, and we stopped and saw where I used to live there.

Navy housing, sitting right up on the bluff overlooking the ocean, and you could see the ocean for miles. So, another fort with, I'd say, a multi-million dollar view, if you were to buy that real estate today. And it sat up on this bluff, and you just, there's a trail that went from my fort right over the, right over the bluff, down the side, and you're out on the beach, out back and forth to the ocean, and for a kid of 12.

That was a pretty cool place to hang out as well. From there, also, through my teenage years, I built a fort in the woods on Anacortes, Washington, and then after that, a fort on our property on Whidbey Island, Washington. And as the years progressed, the forts got bigger, they got more elaborate, because I started doing things like mowing neighbors' lawns and making a little bit of money. Now I could actually purchase some materials, like tarps. I thought, wow, you can actually add some real square footage with these tarps here, and even maybe the occasional piece of plywood. But place to place, again, I think my dad had to hide the nails over the years.

The box would just show up empty. But I would construct these places as my fort of solitude. The last fort I built, I was around the age of 16, and I would say that was my crowning achievement. We lived up on an area called Bodie Mountain, which is about 30 minutes north of Colville.

After my dad had retired, they bought 40 acres, and it's, you know, you go way down this country road, then you go way up the mountain along this dirt road, and then when the road ends, that was our driveway, and we were up there. So it backed up to this hill on Wooded Hill on Bodie Mountain, and my place for the fort then was about a quarter mile up behind the house on the hill.

Found out this level-out spot where construction could begin. And, you know, that place there, I think the previous owner either had a sawmill or had access to sawmill because there were great materials. There was this huge pile of what I would call slabs. And what the slabs were, they were essentially like boards where, you know, it had been the outside of the tree. It was kind of the first run across the sawmill, so one side was flat, like a piece of lumber. The other side was rounded like the outside of the tree, and they were in 2x6, 2x8, 2x10 dimensions there in this pile, and they'd range from 4 feet to 6, 8, 10 feet.

And those made great materials for then building my fort, but they were heavy. And I'd get them up the hill. So we had this morgan horse, and I would take and kind of hook them up to him, and he would drag these slabs up the hill, and I would lead him. And up at the top, then, is where I made my construction.

And what was great about that was, you know, you nail these slabs up, and from the outside, it looked like a log cabin. All the rounded outside. And I even built a wood stove, made a wood stove in this fort. I had an old 5-gallon metal oil can, and I cut a door in it, and I had a hollow pipe. I think it used to go to the antenna. People used to put antennas on top of their house, and that was the chimney pipe.

And I could go up there on a cold winter day, and I could get in my fort, and I could build a fire in this little wood stove, and the little curl of smoke coming out of the chimney, and I could just sit there in quiet and watch the snow.

And again, for me, it was my place of solitude. It was my place of peace and quiet. Again, that was the appeal. You know, in one sense, why would I go through all the effort of building all these places? Part of it was the satisfaction of building something with your own hands. But the other thing was, a place that was for me was peace, was quiet. I could get away from it all. I could think and certainly be alone. And it wasn't that our home was noisy as I grew up, but there was just something about being somewhere by myself, with no one or nothing vying for my attention.

And again, you could just have peace. I think what I discovered at a young age is that there is true value in times and places of quiet. And spending at least a portion of our time in a quiet environment can be rejuvenating to us, refreshing to our souls. It can be healing, frankly, to our mental focus. And it is a blessing to our relationship with God. And so I'd like to talk about that a bit today.

The title of my message is Quiet Times and Places. Quiet times and places. What priority do you and I put on devoting a portion of our life to going to quiet places and having quiet times alone with God? You know, King David was a man who recognized the importance of peace and quiet, and especially internally and spiritually. In fact, so much so that he wrote a psalm about the peace and quietness.

Let's begin today in Psalm chapter 131. Psalm chapter 131. In fact, many individuals in the Bible wrote about peace, wrote about quiet, or about stillness and calmness, and the blessing that can be for us. King David here, Psalm chapter 131, and beginning in verse 1, David says, Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. He says, Neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me. In other words, David's saying, you know what? It does no good for my focus to be lifted up, to be haughty, for pride to be a part of what my way of life is, because, frankly, brethren, that creates clutter and confusion and noise, frankly, turmoil when one is lifted up in this way.

So David says, you know, that's not my heart. Verse 2, he says, Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul. I've calmed and quieted my soul. He says, Like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. And, of course, the point is, this is within the bounds of a relationship with God.

I am at peace, I am quieted, and indeed there is calm. Verse 3, O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever. So this is a song of a sense. It's a very short psalm. And as the heading, probably, in your Bible says, a song of a sense. It's one of those psalms that were sung as a song as they went up in the pilgrimage feast to Jerusalem.

And it was a song of, my heart is at peace, there is stillness, there is quietness. And again, the ultimate expression of that comes from a right relationship with God. And so David understood the value of true tranquility, the value of quieting his soul for the purpose of an eternal peace and rest. And that quietness, that true quietness, only comes through a right and a proper relationship with God.

That indeed, brethren, is the true quiet place. And I want to say that again. A right and a proper relationship with God, indeed, is the true quiet place. But you see, it has to start somewhere. It actually needs to begin with us being able to quiet our environment so that we can have that peace and quiet to reach the peace.

And to reach out to him and to communicate. And then that quietness truly, which comes from God, will be the result.

Do you ever feel like things are just a bit too loud around you? Too much constant noise, constant commotion? And it maybe doesn't have to be chaos, it maybe is just, you know, the radio is always on or the TV is always on, or there's always some sort of noise going on in the background that you never really get a rest from. And again, it may not be intense in volume, but maybe it's intense in consistency. And maybe when you're even trying to quiet yourself. You know, like I'm trying to have some peace, and yet this carries on.

We live out in the Spokane Valley, and just a couple of miles away from where we live, they're constructing a roundabout. And it's an intersection, actually, on Trenton Pines. And the railway runs through there, the train runs through there, and it hangs up traffic, especially around rush hour, because every five to seven minutes this long train comes through, and the arms come down, and the traffic stacks up.

So they're building a roundabout there for the traffic, and it will go down and under the railroad tracks. So they're elevating the train, they're putting a new bridge across the river that the train will go on. And, you know, being in the Spokane Valley sound will carry. And I can sit there in my office at what should be kind of a quiet time, and for most of the months of summer and through the fall, I could hear the consistent sound of the pylons being driven in for the bridge across the river.

And, you know, you might not even notice it in the commotion of everything else, but you just stop and be quiet, and I would just sit there, and I would just hear every two to three seconds, you know, bong, bong, bong, as that pile driver is driving those pylons, and again, elevate the train bridge and take it across the river. You know, it's a noisy world that we live in, and it's sometimes hard to get away from the noise and from the commotion. We also live in an age of connectivity. You know, you notice when the service started, and Randy was scrambling for cables, and Laura was working, and we're in an age of connectivity, right?

So Mike Arms says, we've got a blue screen, you know, coming across on the webcast, and I said, well, Randy's switching cables, and then Connor's wife, Jennifer, at home, and she posted the chat group. There's no picture on the screen. They're working on it, right? We're in a connected world. And I was just telling somebody this morning, I said, I've got to silence my phone at night because I'm on a chat group here, and I'm on like three chat groups in West Africa, and they're nine hours ahead of us, and my phone will not switch.

And I'm like, I'm going to stop. I mean, I'll stand up here and speak, and it's buzzing in my pocket, and I just, you start to learn to ignore it. But we are connected in the world, right? And we have news feeds 24-7, you know, coming forth before us. We have social media alerts. We have emails. We have text messages. And sometimes, even when I'm trying to think to prepare a sermon, I'll silence my phone because, you know, it'll sit there and just ding-ding, ding-ding-ding.

And, you know, you're checking it. What's that? What's that? So we actually have to work to defend quiet time, quiet space, quiet places in our life because, frankly, it does not happen naturally. The phone rings frequently in its telemarketers. You know, the best thing that happened in our house was that the phone company messed up and dropped our number after 28 years and could not get it back. And at first, I was quite upset about that.

Our life is tied to this number. But once they pulled a new number out of the recycle bin, where it had sat for two or three years until that cleared, guess what? We threw all the telemarketers off our trail. And it rings like one-fourth of what it used to ring. And it's like, a little piece. Right? A little piece. But again, this is the world we live in, and we may well be used to it.

But if we're not careful, we become consumed by the constant noise that surrounds us. And it's always vying for our attention. And again, not necessarily bad things. We should be up on the news. We should return our emails.

We should answer the phone. Right? But if it's constant, we have to learn at some time, in some way, just to enjoy the benefit that silence can provide. And we need to find our quiet place. Indeed, I would say, as we come to the end of the age for our own sanity, we need to find our quiet place. Indeed, the Bible shows that Jesus Christ's life contained a lot of noise, a lot of activity that always surrounded him wherever he went. But just as busy as he was, he did not neglect the opportunity for much needed quiet in his life.

He recognized his need, and indeed, he defended it. Let's go to Mark 1. Mark 1. We'll begin in verse 21. And let's just look and get a snapshot here of a day in Jesus' life.

This is actually mostly the Sabbath day. Mark 1 and verse 21. It says, Verse 23.

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet, and come out of him. And then the unclean spirit, when he convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, Okay, there's commotion, there's noise going on here, he came out of him.

Now, I'll admit, I'm grateful that we don't have that much commotion on our Sabbath service every week, okay? We're generally at quiet and at peace. But indeed, this is what he faced. Verse 27, it says, And immediately his fame spread throughout all the region, around Galilee. Now, as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon. Okay, this is Christ and his disciples with him. Enter the house of Simon, and Andrew, and James, and John with him. But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, and they told him about her at once. Verse 31, And at evening, verse 32, When the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick, and those who were demon-possessed, and the whole city was gathered together at the door. Again, this is still one day, right? Started out with the Sabbath in the synagogue, and the teaching and the casting out of the demons, and the people going, what measure of a man is this? And now back to Simon's house, heals the mother, and now the Sabbath ends at sunset, and the whole city's coming out now. And they're bringing people there for him to cast out the demons, for them to heal them, for them to hear his words taught. So it's the whole city pressing at the door. Just think about the continual noise, the continual commotion, and the tension that surrounded Jesus Christ throughout the entirety of his public ministry. It was continual. It was very likely exhausting at times as well, physically and mentally exhausting. Remember, he was fully a flesh and blood human being.

Because you see, when you're casting out demons, when you're healing people, when you're doing all sorts of miracles, that's going to draw attention. And frankly, wherever you go, your quiet time is going to evaporate very quickly. As soon as somebody recognizes you, who wouldn't bring their mother, their brother, their cousin, their child, their sister, someone who's in desperate need, and here's a man of God to heal her, you know, of course the throngs were following him and wanting his attention. And unless you defended that quiet time, it would simply go away. But that is what Jesus did. It is what he had to do. Verse 35, continuing on, it says, Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, he went out and departed to a solitary place, a solitary place. And there he prayed. So Jesus needed his quiet time. He needed this time with his father, the time to process everything that had gone on that day, his time to draw near to God, his time to mentally, spiritually, prepare himself for what lay ahead. And again, he defended this time. The wilderness was his quiet place, and it was his solitary place. It's a place he went to get away from the noise and the crowds and the demands on his time. It's where he went and turned off the cell phone and silenced the tech messages and shut off social media for a period of time, right? And it's where he had to shut out everyone and everything that was constantly vying for his attention. Again, those were good things. Those were not bad things. They were like sheep without a shepherd, you remember Jesus said. They needed healing. They were attracted to him. He was doing the works of God, speaking the words of God, but he needed a break. And there were times he needed to clear his head and indeed find a place in the time of peace. It's the quiet place he went in the wilderness to shut out all for the sake of his own spiritual quietness, which was maintained by intimate contact with God. Again, if we're coming back to what David's words were, and we come back to Christ's example, it's like, okay, true spiritual quietness comes with this reconciled relationship with God. This quietness comes from God, but it has to start somewhere. And it starts with us shutting out the noise around us physically, finding our quiet place, having the quiet time that we can draw near to him in spirit, and then receive that quietness which God provides. Again, verse 35, in the morning, having risen long while before daylight, he went out and departed to a solitary place, and there he prayed. How late do you think he stayed up the night before? Well, it says it was after sunset the whole city was at the door, bringing people to be healed and cared for. And Jesus wasn't one to just say, shoo-shoo now, it's time to go to bed and get my beauty sleep. He had compassion, and he was a living sacrifice before he became, you know, literally killed as a sacrifice. So, you know, I imagine, I don't know, he was up late, caring for these people, and then it turns around and says, how early do you suppose he got out? He says, long while before daylight, he got up and he went out. So how long did he sleep? I don't know exactly, but clearly not much. I do think the passage shows us the priority that Jesus Christ placed on seeking out a quiet place in order to have much needed quiet time with God. Again, it was a priority throughout his ministry. And he had important things to do, and he might could say, well, I can't set this on the back burner for now, this is important. Yes, it was, but so was his relationship with his Father and the strength that he drew through that connection. Luke 5 and verse 12. Let's see again his dedication to maintaining this place and times of quiet. Luke 5 and verse 12.

Luke 5 verse 12. And it says, Verse 14.

Make an offering for your cleansing as the testimony to them, just as Moses commanded. However, the report went around concerning him all the more. And great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities. So he himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.

Again, the focus of this message isn't specifically on prayer, although that plays a big part of this. But the point I'm highlighting for us is that Jesus had quiet places that he retreated to in order to get away, again, from that noise and the commotion around him, and to seek out the spiritual benefit that comes with a level of peace and quiet with his Father. And he defended that. You know, it can be easy in our schedule. I think we all know it can be easy. Things are busy. Things are piling up, and there are certain things that we kind of, you know, maybe they seem flexible, and so we flex into that time. Some of that might be family time. Some of that might be quiet time with God. But we have to, at times, set defendable borders around certain things and say, I need this. And something that Jesus Christ needed, someone who is spiritually strong and close to God, as has ever been, right, in the form of a human being. He needed this time, and he needed to defend it, and he needed to use it well.

Quietness is important, brethren. We're built as physical human beings to need a level of quietness. Scientific studies have actually revealed a number of benefits related to finding peace and quiet. I want to quote to you from an article I pulled from GoodHousekeeping.com, and it's titled, Why You Need That Five Minutes of Quiet. It's published by Sean Anker on July 22, 2014. Again, GoodHousekeeping.com. And under the heading of negative, the negative side of noise, he says, quote, Some amazing studies have been done on the detrimental effects of noise and the benefits of a little peace and quiet. It says in an Italian study from 2013, something as ubiquitous as the ringing of the subject's cell phones had the power to cause a spike in their blood pressure. Your phone ever rings and it rings and it rings and maybe it's your cell phone and it says suspected spam, and you're right in the middle of something. Important, maybe. It can have a way of putting you on edge. It says being surrounded by noise affects how well we remember things, too. Another study found that in a noisy environment, say a crowded restaurant, short-term memory can become overloaded because the brain circuitry that processes recall as well as speech is the same one that handles noise. So if you have this constant drone of noise coming in, it's going to actually start to scramble out some of the processes that would naturally need to take place freely in the brain. He says, on some level, we know this instinctively. If you realize you're lost while driving, the first thing you're likely to do is to turn down the volume on the radio. And that's because the noisier your environment is, the tougher it is to concentrate and to find your way. He goes on to say, okay, what's the remedy to some of this? He says, commit to just five minutes. He says, quiet doesn't just enhance mental focus and happiness. If you're constantly distracted by the TV in the background and the sound of your phones vibrating against the table, you miss out on the tiny moments throughout the day when your brain could be off-duty. Lose those moments, and you also lose the chance to process and integrate the things you've learned, the things you've heard, and the things you've done. He says, like a good belly laugh shared with a coworker or an insight you had during the morning shower, that's why it makes sense to give your brain some breathing room instead of filling every minute. Life's small moments can add up to something more meaningful when you give yourself the chance to reflect upon them. Sometimes a reflection, meditation, and processing what you heard. Processing things that occurred throughout the day are very important. The point is to find those quiet times and places to give your brain the important element of silence it needs to properly focus. That's what Jesus did, right? That's what he did when he had to separate himself out from the crowd, go to a solitary place, go to the wilderness, and pray, and spend his time with God. He needed to shut out all the noise, all the commotion, so that he could focus on God. Mark 6 also highlights the fact that Jesus found it important for his disciples to get away from time to time as well.

Mark 6, verse 30. Mark 6, verse 30 says, Then the apostles gathered to Jesus, and they told them all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. And he said to them, And Jesus says, you know, it's time to get away for a bit. It's time for a break. Because these were the disciples of Jesus Christ. So wherever they went, and whoever heard them recognized, oh, they had been with Jesus. And they're performing these miracles because they had the power of God working in them.

And Jesus had given them authority to go out and do different things, cast out the demons, heal the sick. And again, as such with him, it was a magnet that drew people to them, such that they didn't even have time to cedar their own personal needs like eating. And so Jesus saw his own disciples under the same pressure that he was off and under, and he instructed them to come aside to a deserted place, quiet place, somewhere they could have some peace and they could recharge before then heading back into the fray. Verse 32, Mark 6, still, verse 32 says, So they departed to a deserted place in a boat by themselves.

It says, But the multitude saw them departing, and many knew him and ran there on foot from all the cities, and they arrived before them and came together to him. It's like, oh, they're heading over there. You know how we can get over there, you know, go around this way. And people saw, and they were excited, and literally what was supposed to be an excursion to find some peace and quiet. You arrived, and there were the multitudes, you know, ready to greet them. I've been there before. Not to this degree, okay? Not to this degree. But there's been times where I've been in West Africa, and I just know, okay, this is a period of time where it's going to be person after person, and everyone's going to want a piece of me, and it is why I am there.

Again, this is why Jesus was there, and these were right and good things, okay? So, I mean, it is why I'm there. But, for example, we had the leadership conference, the four-day conference in August that Tim Peborth and I put together.

We had it in Ghana, and we brought together the leaders and the wives from English and French West African countries. We had over 50 people there. It was four days of conference, four days of interaction and instruction. And I knew each morning when I got up that as soon as I walked out the door, it would be nonstop until my head hit the pillow that night. So there's times you just sort of brace yourself.

You take a breath, and you're out the door, and then, you know, someone comes alongside you on your walk to the dining hall, and you're talking there, you're talking in line, you're visiting with people as you eat. I mean, that's why we are there, to interact, to instruct. But there were literally times between the presentations and the short breaks and the interactions that there wasn't really a time for quiet. And I actually had a couple of times I tried to sneak off into my room. You know, it wasn't too far removed, and I thought, well, I've got ten minutes before the next session, and I'm just going to shoot off into my room, and just, you know, I need to discharge for a few seconds.

And I go to my room, and I shut the door, and it's kind of be quiet, and I just start to have just a little piece, and maybe close my eyes, and... Yeah. Pastor, are you in there? I'm here. I'm here. What do you need? You know, that's fine. Okay, that's good. But the point is, this, you know, this is what Jesus and His disciples faced on an ongoing basis, and you can do that for a time, but you can't neglect the quiet time that we need with God.

So, for me, when I'm there for the feast, when I'm there for a conference, I know, even if it just comes in a moment or two, take advantage of it. Take advantage of a couple moments of quiet. Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, say a short prayer to God, and it actually is...it is a bit of a recharge. According to Healthline.com, it says, "...a period of silence may help your physical health in several ways, including lowering your blood pressure..." You know, it just says, that noise and the ringing of the phone can ratchet it up.

"...silence can help to bring it down, improving your concentration and focus, calming your racing thoughts, stimulating brain growth..." I thought that was interesting. Each of these headings actually had a sub-article underneath them, and it actually showed how noise can actually debilitate certain areas of your brain that should be actively growing. I mean, we have a level of noise we can tolerate because we're supposed to. We're supposed to interact, but if you reject the silence and don't have it, you're actually missing opportunity for certain brain development to take place.

A silence helps to reduce cortisol. It helps to stimulate creativity, improve insomnia, and encourage mindfulness. You actually retain more short-term memories if you have moments of silence from time to time. "...and beyond our physical health, quietness is essential for our spiritual health as well." And that's really the point of all of this, brother, and it's important for our spiritual health. At God's people, it's vitally important for maintaining our relationship with Him, just as Jesus Christ demonstrated that He defended that time to go to a solitary place to spend time with God.

I think we all realize the important element that silence plays in exercising our spiritual disciplines. Our spiritual disciplines are prayer. We've been touching all over that. Prayer coming before God's throne of grace on your knees. And it's not a time to come up into God's presence in prayer and say, Oh, just a minute, God, I got a text message. Let me see who that is. No, we push out the distractions.

We push out the noise. I understand there's times where we get prayer on the move as well. There's times I'm in the car driving, and I'll use that for prayer time. But we can't substitute actual on our knees in a quiet place. Christ said, Go somewhere private. Shut the door. And God, who will see you and hear you secretly, will reward you openly. So the example is, find that quiet time in prayer with God.

So we have prayer. We have Bible study, which is a spiritual discipline as well. Just simply spending time in God's Word, reading the words on the page. And it's not just for the sake of how many words can I get in, it's for the sake of absorbing what they're actually saying. And for me, it's hard, if there's all this noise going around, to actually really get a lot out of what I'm reading. I'm a very one-track, focused person. That's why I can't sing in a choir. Because if I'm trying to hold my part, and there's somebody next to me singing another part, well, I'm sorry, I just jumped to whatever it is they're singing.

I can't hold my part with them doing something different. So we have to have directed focus and attention in God's Word. So with prayer, we have Bible study, we have fasting as a spiritual discipline. Again, that's not to be just something that is going on in the chaos of every day. And we have meditation. Taking time, actually, to think deeply upon the words of God, and to consider, you know, what do these words mean in my life?

How can I apply them? How can I live them? And how can they bring the blessing that God desires? All of those activities require a degree of quiet contemplation and peace. And I would say, brethren, the real risk to us today is the people of God is not shutting out the noise, not turning off the constant buzz and commotion around us, because we live in a world full of activities on demand. And as Americans, we tend to cram every moment full.

And life can be full of lots of good things. And you could be watching the news 24-7. It's good to catch the news from time to time. You can be doing all these things, but we've come into an age where we can be constantly connected and filled with noise. And a great risk to us, I believe, is not just simply turning it all off, going to a solitary place, having quiet time, drawing close to your God.

Indeed, that is something we must defend. And that's the admonition for today's message. Find your quiet time and place, and defend it. In the Bible, quietness is often associated with righteousness. And indeed, it is the effect of righteousness reigning, either in a nation... You know, if it's a righteous nation, guess what?

The nation will be quiet. The nation will have peace. If it's in the life of an individual, and the righteousness of God reigns in their life, there will be a spiritual quiet and peace within the individual. And it's a result of what God is offering us if we take on His holy righteous character. If we allow that interaction with His Spirit, you know, without distraction, He is offering us peace, and He's offering us quietness of Spirit. So it's no wonder that if we are a people in search of the righteousness of God, then that physical quietness would be the environment by which it starts.

Pull in the quietness of your actual environment, drawn near to God, and the spiritual peace and quietness of your Spirit will follow. Isaiah chapter 30...

Isaiah chapter 30, here the prophet Isaiah records one of God's invitations to the nation of Israel to simply be quiet. And the admonition, the invitation, comes at a time where Israel is in rebellion against God. They're going after false gods, they're doing their own thing, and what do you think that creates in the life of people?

What does sin create? It creates noise. It creates disruption. And it's the opposite of that peace and calm. Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 15 then, For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, he says, in returning and rest, you shall be saved. He's like, okay, O backsliding Israel, return to me and find peace and rest, and in that you shall be saved. And he says, in quietness you'll find confidence, and quietness and confidence shall be your strength. So let me read that again. Thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest, you shall be saved.

In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. He says, but you would not. You would not. God invited backsliding Israel to be quiet, to have silence, to have silence as a nation, and to be finding their home and their strength and their rest with him. But they were not willing. Instead, they were given over to the clutter of sin, to the noise of sin, to the chaos and the fallout that that produced in their midst. And ultimately, what did it lead to for the nation? Because they would not find the place of quiet.

It led to the noise of war. Right? You remember the Assyrians came in and brutally drug them out of the land. It led to the noise of war, to the noise of captivity, and ultimately the noise of their dispersion among the nations. Their place of peace and quiet, which is what the Promised Land should have been, had they been God's model nation.

They were torn out of it. For you and I today, this same quietness and trust in God has much to do with our spiritual strength as we wait for Him to fulfill His promises in our life. And in the world today, God says, wait on me. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.

So we don't have to be loud-mouthed and chaotic, and we certainly ought not to be living in the commotion of sin, but in quietness and confidence will come our strength. Indeed, if we put our trust in Him. And there's Scripture after Scripture after Scripture that shows that quietness and trust is an incredible blessing to God's people.

I'll just list a few of them for you. I won't turn to these, but jot them in your notes. Take a look at them. Psalm 46, verse 10. Psalm 46, verse 10. Be still and know that I am God. Be still. Be at peace. Be quiet and have trust in Him. Psalm 37, verse 7. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Rest and be at peace. Be quiet. Have trust in God. Wait patiently for Him. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 11. That you may aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you. Again, seek to live a quiet life.

That's what Paul gave to the Thessalonians. Go after peace and quiet. Live it in your life. Lamentations 3, verse 26. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Wait quietly upon God. Ecclesiastes 4, verse 6. Better a handful with quietness than both hands full together with toil and grasping for the wind. It actually goes to our contentness in this life. Godliness with contentment is great gain. We do work.

We do need to produce. We do need to provide. But go out and do your part and have a handful with quiet contentment. That will bring you so much more peace than trying to grasp with both hands. It is described as grasping for the wind.

It will slip through your fingers and satisfaction never comes. Better a handful with quietness than both hands full together with toil and grasping for the wind. I'll say I've known some people in life that weren't the richest people, but you know what? When I looked at their life, they were content with what they had, and I would describe their life as quiet. And indeed, at peace. Again, brethren, quietness and especially spiritual quietness goes hand in hand with righteousness.

And if we seek out, and if we plan for, and if we defend appropriate quietness today, and we use that time to build up our relationship with God, then true quietness, which comes as a result of His righteousness, indeed, will be our reward. This quietness, which comes from God, is not only promised to us, but it is promised to the entire world after the return of Jesus Christ at the establishment of the kingdom of God.

This is not a quiet world, but one day it will be. Isaiah 32, verse 16. Isaiah 32 and verse 16. This is a millennial prophecy. Just imagine this age. Isaiah 32, verse 16 says, Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and in righteousness remain in the fruitful field. It says, The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness will be quietness and assurance forever.

The effect of righteousness. This quietness and assurance forever. It says, My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet, resting places. Again, quietness is a promised blessing of the age to come. And why will it be so? Well, because Jesus Christ will reign. The kingdom of God will be established, and the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

And the righteousness of the kingdom of God will be the effect. The effect of that righteousness will be quietness. It will be peace among the nations, peace among the animals. And it will be assurance for all who embrace it.

Brethren, are you desperate to find peace and quiet in your life today? You know, does it always seem like you live in noise? There's always noise around you, and you're desperate for peace and quiet. Well, the good news, and the beautiful truth of Isaiah 32.17, is that true quietness comes as we experience the righteousness of God's calling, of His commandments, and of His Spirit at work in our lives.

Again, Isaiah 32.17, the work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness will be quietness and assurance forever. Incredible, incredible blessings. The good news is that you and I can live this effect of God's kingdom today. I've spoken before about the kingdom effect. That is, the blessings and the promises we see fulfilled during the millennium have actually been fulfilled in our spiritual lives today.

Because you and I live under the reign of the kingdom of God today, and its authority is over our life today. So this peace and quietness that comes as the effect of righteousness, indeed, can be yours today, as you draw close to God in this relationship. But it starts somewhere. It starts with a place of quiet, in a time of quiet that you defend, so that you can draw close to God.

Brethren, indeed, the Bible shows that God ultimately intends to establish a quiet place in an area where quietness currently does not reign. In fact, you would probably label this future quiet place to be among the most noisiest of places on earth. You can turn the television on right now, and it fills our screens, and it fills our news feed, and God says, This will be a quiet place.

Today, it is a place of war, it is a place of confusion, it is a place of death and despair, it is a place of destruction and of hurt and of pain. Noise resonates in a place that God says will be a quiet home. Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse 14. Let's see what God intends, not only for us, but again, the entire world one day. Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse 14 says, What does the nation of Israel look like today, this morning, right now?

What does Jerusalem sound like? The iron dome, it's there defending it, but it's shooting down incoming artillery, and it's being sent back as well, and it's decimating areas of the Gaza Strip. It is not a place of peace, in a time of quiet.

Verse 15, He is cast out your enemy. The king of Israel, the Lord is in your midst. Again, millennial prophecy. You shall see disaster no more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, do not fear. Zion, let not your hands be weak. The Lord your God in your midst, the mighty one will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness and will quiet you.

He will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing. Again, the effect of God reigning as king in Israel will be peace and quiet over the land to a degree such as they have never known. This is the effect of a proper relationship with the righteousness of God. Quietness in the land, quietness in the lives of each and every individual. Isaiah 33. Let's conclude here today. Isaiah 33. Again, when we look forward to what God has in store, it helps us to realize indeed what it is He's working out daily in our life today.

Isaiah 33 and verse 20. Again, a millennial prophecy. Isaiah 33 verse 20 says, Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feast. Your eyes will see Jerusalem a quiet home.

A quiet home. That is not that place today. Your eyes will see Jerusalem a quiet home, a tabernacle that will not be taken down. Not one of its stakes will ever be moved, nor will any of its cords be broken. But there the majestic Lord will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars will sail, nor majestic ships pass by. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, and the Lord is our king, and He will save us. Again, brethren, this ancient city whose name means possession of peace. Yes, what Jerusalem means, possession of peace. But of all the war-wracked and violent places on the face of the earth right now, Jerusalem has been one of the worst throughout time. Thankfully, God will at last intervene for His people. He will destroy the enemies of peace, and He will establish peace permanently. And Jesus Christ will reign in Jerusalem as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, a place which will become known as a quiet home. A quiet home.

Brethren, you and I live in a noisy world that threatens to overwhelm us at every turn if we allow it. We're always connected, we're always surrounded, there's always the roar of sin, there's always the opportunity of one more noise to add to the chorus, and yet quietness has to begin somewhere in our lives. Let us learn to shut out the noise around us for a period of time each day. Let's shut off the smartphones, shut off the TV, shut off the radio, shut out the clutter of the world, shut out the demands on our time. Maybe they're important demands, but you have to carve out a piece of time. And let us find our quiet place of solitude which provides for us that quiet time. And let us seek after those peaceful moments with God's righteousness. In that peace, in that quiet, draw near to Him. Draw out in those peaceful moments with God's righteousness, and from there we'll spring forth true quietness, both for us and ultimately the rest of mankind in the age to come. Brethren, let it begin, though, with us. Let it begin with the house of God, a quiet home.