The lady was ordering some French fries and hot dogs for her three kids at a local fast food restaurant. Her cell phone rang and as she answered it one of the children opened the car door to get out. She was screaming at the child, while holding the phone, while ordering. She was frantic. On the same day I had two conversations that were cut off by cell phone calls. One of them never resumed. At the board meeting last night, two of the members had to leave before the business was done because they had other appointments they had already made. 

James Hicks likens our frantic society to thirsty men finding a spring of salt water. Their thirst drives them to drink faster and faster believing that more will quench their thirst. Finally they die of dehydration while their bellies are filled with liquid. I must admit that I too am greatly affected by the disquieted nature of my culture. It seems that there is not enough time to get done all that the day requires. Traffic jams, airline delays, dropped calls . . . all add to the frenetic nature of life in these modern times. 

Whatever happened to quiet? I can remember being taught as a young disciple of Jesus how to have a “quiet time.” Not many people even know what that means. Most of those who do are not practicing it. The common experience is to pray on the way to work or listen to a CD while caught in traffic. If a man has a habit of reading a paragraph or two from a devotional guide, he is considered super spiritual and definitely leadership material. We are often exhorted to enjoy God and to rejoice in every circumstance of life. Truthfully many of us are living with inner turmoil and have a difficult time even computing what enjoying God means. 

    O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
        my eyes are not raised too high;
    I do not occupy myself with things
        too great and too marvelous for me.
   But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
        like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
   O Israel, hope in the Lord
        from this time forth and forevermore.
Psalm 131:1-3 (ESV)

The Psalmist David discovered quiet in the midst of his tumultuous life. Remember that he was anointed king long before he was recognized as king by the people. There was a long time lapse when he was running from Saul, hiding in caves, and trying to survive. Surely he had occasion to be restless and doubtful.  But he discovered the secret of the quieted soul. 

The Lord is my chosen portion and
     my cup; you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in
     pleasant places; indeed, I have a
    beautiful inheritance.
I have set the Lord always before
     me; because he is at my right
     hand, I shall not be shaken.
Psalm 16:5-6, 8 (ESV)

That delay in recognition can cause us to fret, especially when the one doing our appointed job is not doing it well. Surely God’s timing is off. We can’t just sit back and do nothing when things are going so badly.

When David became king he had a mammoth job. It is tough being the final authority over all the welfare of a nation—God’s nation. Just the job is enough to prevent sleep and create all kinds of internal conversation—continually. Then he had the awful experience of personal failure. He sinned against God and his fellowman. Adultery and murder are not just minor mistakes. The consequences are fearful. But somehow he learned the secret of the quiet soul. Alienated from his son, he still had to govern under God’s order. He surely wept himself to sleep many nights as he thought of Absalom. Was his failure the primary cause of his son’s rebellion? Then when he wanted desperately to build a house for God, he was rebuffed. He had to accept that he could only play one part in the drama and another would play the lead in the temple building act. All of these situations and more gave plenty of opportunity to have a frantic soul, but somehow David found the secret. 

THE QUIET SOUL IS A WEANED SOUL
The picture David uses to describe the nature of the kind of peace that comes from God is the child in a mother’s arms. But it is not the nursing child. It is the weaned child. He or she has matured to the point of being able to recognize mother as more than a resource. She no longer is viewed as only a milk supplier. She is a person to be known and enjoyed. The child is now learning to fit into the family and accept responsibility along with the rest of the community. Life is not just about the baby anymore. The baby’s cry is not the central sound of the family like it was before weaning. Interdependence is replacing total dependence. 

Western civilization has produced a plethora of isolated individuals who have never been weaned from the childhood stage. “Consumers” is what we are called. We are catered to by business and church. When we cry the world listens and responds—or so we think. But isolated people are restless. Like the hero in the old Western movies: we gotta’ keep moving and drifting looking for the perfect place. No time for settling down and doing the hard work. Kiss the girls and hitch up the horse. There are more on the other side of the mountain. Most of the drifters died lonely deaths and are buried in lonely cemeteries if their graves are marked at all. Isolation is not what it is cracked up to be.

Can we find what David found? Well, there is another David that made it possible for us to know the secret. He is the fulfillment of the promise God made to King David that one of his sons would always sit on the throne of God’s kingdom on earth. That Son is Jesus.  

JESUS LIVES IN ETERNAL PEACE
Israel had a word for the proper relationship of humans to God and their surroundings. Shalom means peace but more than peace. It means that everything is in its proper order. It is life the way it was designed to be. Jesus lived in peace. He made some remarkable statements about his relationship with the Father. He stated that he did nothing without seeing the Father do it and said nothing without hearing the Father. How did that work? Did he have a recording in his head? Did he see events beforehand like on a screen? We aren’t sure how it worked, but it seems he had such peace in his soul that he could discern the guidance from the Spirit who led him. And the good news is that he has granted to those who believe to have the same experience.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, who the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for-- he dwells with you and will be in you.
John 14:15-17 (ESV)

THE GOSPEL OF THE NEW TESTAMENT FEATURES THIS PEACE AS   A   BENEFIT    FOR    BELIEVERS
Paul exhorted the early Christians to expect to live with a quiet soul—or peace.    

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7 (ESV) 

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews also spoke to this issue. He used the “rest” pictured in Israel’s possession of the Promised Land as a type of the state of peace we have available to us in Christ. 

Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, "Today," saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts.”
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.  So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
    Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 
Hebrews 4:6-11 (ESV)

GOD IS ACTIVELY WEANING HIS PEOPLE
He moves us from preoccupation with needs to participation in his purpose. In this process feelings often fade in order to establish the strength of true faith. “Naked faith” is a choice in response to a word from God without the clothing of feelings or affections. Those may be added back later, but often the weaning process necessitates their suspension. Remember Israel’s experience in the journey through the wilderness. The manna stopped. They had to plant and dig wells and fight their battles. Remember Jesus at the temple as a young Jewish boy. He was no longer just Mary and Joseph’s boy. He was about his Father’s business. God wants us to grow up; not into independence, but into interdependence. We are partners with him now in his purposes. We cannot do anything without trusting him, and he has chosen to do his work through us. But since he has assigned to us the job, he will be faithful to give us the needed resources to get it done.

In this process he will expose the inadequacy of observation knowledge alone. We live in two dimensions. There are two levels of consciousness. We are aware of our physical surroundings, but always conscious of his presence. It is like having a conversation with someone while you know another is listening with interest. Your words are chosen carefully not just for the one you are addressing but also for the one who is listening. A teenage girl is making plans with some friends on the phone while in the kitchen with mom. Her speech is affected. She is talking to both: one directly and one indirectly. We as believers are never outside the presence of our Father. He is always involved. The more we are conscious of his input the more we can live in peace. This is why Paul can exhort believers to: pray without ceasing . . . always giving thanks, etc. 

He is also purifying our hearts as we are honest about the obstacles in it. When we can name our moods and attitudes, we can present them to God and have him transform them.

The temptation is to be embarrassed by what pops up in our feelings.  We think we should be more mature than that. So we tend to hide or suppress those moods and affections. They are just clouds being exposed for what they are. Light dispels darkness and the only thing we can do is name them properly. He does the changing. 

Recently I was watching a football game on TV while talking on the phone with a friend. My favorite team was not playing very well and though I was only half-watching, I found myself being irritable on the phone. Later the team began to play better and my mood lightened. I was embarrassed that such an insignificant event could affect me that much. How could I call myself a Christian and be so shallow? After a while of lamenting my state, I recognized how helpless I am to change my affections and feelings. I named it as a fleshly mood and turned my eyes to Jesus who is constant. This process happens over and again as we learn that God is faithful to keep working in us to wean us from everything but him. 

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:1-3 (ESV)

Let us rejoice that God is weaning us from our consumer mentality. We are his fellow laborers. It is time to grow up, and he is taking us there.