The New Loneliness DevotionalNäide

Welcoming the Quiet

Do you ever feel uncomfortable in the quiet, especially when you’re alone?

While we may long for quiet in the midst of the constant chatter of televisions or podcasts, or the chaos of work or arguing children, what do we do with stillness, when there’s no one else in the room and we start to feel alone?

Perhaps when it’s quiet, our thoughts become louder—thoughts we don’t want running through our minds. Or maybe the stillness makes us feel that no one is there to support us or understand what we’re dealing with.

An Invitation, Not an Absence

You and I can view quiet alone times as reminders of our loneliness and do everything we can to avoid them. Or, we can welcome them as much-needed respites from the noise—as invitations from God, who has been whispering to us, “Come with Me to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31).

How often we feel we must set aside time to be with God and then feel guilty for not doing it. How often our hearts may long for a getaway with Him, not realizing that getaway is available to us every moment of the day because He indwells us and calls us to come to Him within the recesses of our hearts.

“Be still, and know that I am God” says Psalm 46:10 (NIV). We can get to know Him in the stillness as we allow Him to quiet our thoughts and we focus on His presence.

Psalm 46:10 in the New American Standard Bible reads, “Stop striving and know that I am God.” Having a heart at rest means we are not striving to control, not anxious nor stressed about what might happen or all that we have to do. It means we are in a place of quiet contentment like David sang in Psalm 131:2: “I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me” (ESV).

Quiet. Full. Satisfied. Secure.

Learning to Be Still Again

Is it time to slow your pace, switch off the inner chatter, and ask God to still your mind from anxiety or busyness and flood it with His peace? Is it time to close the app, shut the lid on your device, or turn off the music or the TV, and develop a heart that not only welcomes but longs for the quiet stillness? It’s there you will begin to discern your Savior’s voice, which is much more loving than your own internal critic. It is there you will hear His tender words: “I have loved you with an everlasting love… I have drawn you out with kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3). It is there you will be assured of His promise to never leave you nor abandon you (Hebrews 13:5). It is there, in His presence, that you will find fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11).

Lord Jesus, I want to spend more focused time with You, the Lover of my soul. Help me to welcome the quiet times in my life and see them not as reminders of loneliness but as invitations to be alone with You. You are the One who pursues my heart. Calm my ambitions and my striving and help me to be like a child, content to lean against You in the quiet, and just rest.