Finding Calm to Quiet Your Soul
by Cynthia Jennings on November 11, 2020With one month left in 2020 all I can say is wow this has been quite a year! The world feels in chaos…relationally, economically, emotionally and spiritually. Have you found yourself asking, “can 2020 get any worse’? The reality is, yes it can get worse! And, if not careful we could easily find ourselves wallowing in despair if we don’t know how to process the pain of things getting worse.
The possibility of dire circumstances doesn’t mean defeat and hopelessness.
The hardest part of life is on this side of heaven. Scriptures makes us aware of the challenges we will face while living in our mortal bodies. Never the less Jesus promises us peace in Him and reminds us that we should take no thought for tomorrow.
Sisters, trouble will come! But the promise of trouble doesn’t have to put us in a state of being frazzled and undone. The fear of suffering and hardships doesn’t have to consume our thoughts and rattle our minds with anxiety. We don’t have to allow the lack of control and the unknown to undermine our purpose and steal our joy.
Instead we must learn to have a calm and quiet soul. What does having a calm and quiet soul look like in the midst of a world full of chaos?
The Hebrew word for “calm” which is translated as composed, is sharah. It means to level, smooth, to set or place. What can you do to find a level, stable place in your life to process your thoughts and release all your worries to God?
The Hebrew word for “quieted” is daman, which means to be silent and still. Where is the silence and stillness in your life? What do you need to do to make room for silence and stillness so that you heart, mind and soul isn’t spinning by the overwhelming consumption of chaos but can settle at the foot of the cross?
The word “soul” comes form the Hebrew word nephesh, which refers to the seat of your emotions, passions, and appetite as well as the activity of the mind, will and character. What are you wiling to do to nurture yourself daily? How can you navigate not just your spiritual life, but also your physical body so that you can be equipped to respond to the chaos from God’s perspective?
If you haven’t learned to have a calm and quiet soul, when crisis hit, your first instinct is to try to muster up the strength to press on….just simply surviving. But does that really work or do we just end up worse off?
The answer to obtaining a calm and quiet soul….. we need to practice slowing down daily so that we give our minds and bodies much needed recovery time in order to focus on the truths of God’s Word so that we are able to navigate through inevitable chaos.
God knows you. He sees you. He made you. And He has equipped you to embrace the calm and quiet that we need. However, it is OUR responsibility to seek the calm that will quiet our souls and that calm only is accessible through Jesus Christ.
PEARLStoPONDER: Father God help me to remember that when I feel overwhelmed by what I can’t predict or plan, that You already know what will play out and are with me through the process. Help me, Lord, to trust You as I steady my mind and heart on Your promises. Help me to care for my body in the way it needs so that my mind can embrace Your Truth more easily.
Psalm 46:1-3--God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
Psalm 46:10--“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Psalm 131:1-2--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.2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.
John 16:33--I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Matthew 6:34--“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
The possibility of dire circumstances doesn’t mean defeat and hopelessness.
The hardest part of life is on this side of heaven. Scriptures makes us aware of the challenges we will face while living in our mortal bodies. Never the less Jesus promises us peace in Him and reminds us that we should take no thought for tomorrow.
Sisters, trouble will come! But the promise of trouble doesn’t have to put us in a state of being frazzled and undone. The fear of suffering and hardships doesn’t have to consume our thoughts and rattle our minds with anxiety. We don’t have to allow the lack of control and the unknown to undermine our purpose and steal our joy.
Instead we must learn to have a calm and quiet soul. What does having a calm and quiet soul look like in the midst of a world full of chaos?
The Hebrew word for “calm” which is translated as composed, is sharah. It means to level, smooth, to set or place. What can you do to find a level, stable place in your life to process your thoughts and release all your worries to God?
The Hebrew word for “quieted” is daman, which means to be silent and still. Where is the silence and stillness in your life? What do you need to do to make room for silence and stillness so that you heart, mind and soul isn’t spinning by the overwhelming consumption of chaos but can settle at the foot of the cross?
The word “soul” comes form the Hebrew word nephesh, which refers to the seat of your emotions, passions, and appetite as well as the activity of the mind, will and character. What are you wiling to do to nurture yourself daily? How can you navigate not just your spiritual life, but also your physical body so that you can be equipped to respond to the chaos from God’s perspective?
If you haven’t learned to have a calm and quiet soul, when crisis hit, your first instinct is to try to muster up the strength to press on….just simply surviving. But does that really work or do we just end up worse off?
The answer to obtaining a calm and quiet soul….. we need to practice slowing down daily so that we give our minds and bodies much needed recovery time in order to focus on the truths of God’s Word so that we are able to navigate through inevitable chaos.
God knows you. He sees you. He made you. And He has equipped you to embrace the calm and quiet that we need. However, it is OUR responsibility to seek the calm that will quiet our souls and that calm only is accessible through Jesus Christ.
PEARLStoPONDER: Father God help me to remember that when I feel overwhelmed by what I can’t predict or plan, that You already know what will play out and are with me through the process. Help me, Lord, to trust You as I steady my mind and heart on Your promises. Help me to care for my body in the way it needs so that my mind can embrace Your Truth more easily.
Psalm 46:1-3--God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
Psalm 46:10--“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Psalm 131:1-2--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.2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.
John 16:33--I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Matthew 6:34--“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
