Here, of late i’ve enjoyed a great invention by God called “quiet”. Honestly, i should have been learning to enjoy God’s creation of “quiet” long ago, but i think my internal self was far too noisy to even think about it. No, i don’t just think i was noisy, i KNOW i was noisy. There was nothing quiet about me, and when i thought i was being quiet, internally i was very noisy.

The idea of “quiet” is part of God’s sound design for the universe. In His design there are so many “rooms”, so to speak. Here’s a little context maybe: In sound design (audio production, game audio, film post, or virtual acoustics, etc), “defining a room” means specifying the acoustic properties of a space to realistically simulate or process how sound behaves within it. Some rooms are very “alive” like a music hall, and some rooms are very quiet like your bedroom at 3 a.m.. i realize that’s probably more information than most would want, but let us think about that. The goal of sound design is to assist the listener to be in the space which they are occupying. The visual and audible make for an almost complete immersive experience. If we are seeing the forest yet there is no sound of wind, birds, or any of the other sounds which accompany being in the forest, we feel disconnected somehow. So, God went to work to not only give us a visual but also the sounds of what we see in order that we would more fully engage with the world around us and other people.

In light of all that, I’ve come to greatly appreciate the idea of quiet. Quiet in my head, quiet in my heart which tends to make God easier to hear. Afterall, our goal above all things is hearing the Lord, with both ears. And let me point out quiet is not the same as silence.

We are absolutely slammed with noise these days, but our world is radically noisier than we think — street noise, the chaos of internet noise, music noise, the constant roar of all things entertainment, and just the ambient noise of all the people breathing in a large department store can be very intense. The volume is maddening and i haven’t even gotten to the noise in our heads. Even in the quietest part of where we live, there’s ambient noise like air exchange running, and the sound of the fans on the computer, etc. Most people almost never sit in quiet, and even when they do it is still not actually quiet.

On a side note, most people truly cannot stand complete and utter quiet — the noise within our own ears is suddenly too loud. it’s almost as if even the smallest things inside our mind is unnerving, so in a way, we seem to need some sort of environmental feedback which maybe lets us know we even exist and where we are. We get most of our balance from seeing the horizon and hearing our surroundings. The quietest place on Earth is the anechoic chamber at Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The room absorbs 99.99% of sound and is so silent that visitors can hear their own internal organs functioning. And, because there are no echoing sound waves to provide the brain with spatial orientation, most people inside this chamber quickly become disoriented. When all external sounds are stripped away, the silence itself feels deafening, allowing you to hear sounds you would never normally notice. In fact, with the lights off, the record for sitting in the ultimate quiet room is around 45 minutes, but most people are slowly driven insane for lack of ambient room noise or spacial orientation.

But more than just external quiet, in the Bible, God’s idea of “quiet” centers on stillness, silence, restful trust, and attentive waiting in His presence — and i believe practicing His idea of quietness is a pathway to knowing Him, finding strength, peace, and salvation amid chaos or turmoil.

Quiet is not mere inactivity or empty silence, but a deliberate ceasing of striving, anxiety, and self-reliance so that we can recognize God’s sovereignty, hear Him, and rest in His control. God’s idea of quietness pairs with trust, hope, and praise. “Be still” in Psalm 46:10 more accurately means, stop what you’re doing, let go in quiet trust, release control which leads to deeper knowledge of who Jesus is. One author wrote that when we are quiet before the Lord, “Panic and self-effort give way to expectant stillness.” Isaiah 30:15, “For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength…’”

I think we can conclude that quietness (quiet or calm) combined with trust brings salvation and strength, contrasting, what i call frantic human plans.

Karl Barth wrote that, “God’s vision of quiet is relational and empowering: it counters fear and self-reliance, fosters trust, allows Him to fight/work on our behalf, and opens us to His peace and voice.” i believe God’s idea of quiet counters the noise of anxiety, busyness, mindless chatter that seems to surround us, and striving.

In a noisy world, the Bible repeatedly calls believers to cultivate this stillness—not as escape, but as the posture for knowing and experiencing God more deeply. Many find it through prayer, contemplating Scripture, solitude, or simply pausing to remember His presence.

So here … sit down. Be still a moment or two. Stop your worry for a few minutes. You know, you need rest. Aren’t you tired of church noise, entitled people noise, the roar of church conflict, complaining noise, accusing noise? Sit with Jesus, just be still and let it go, it’ll all be right where you left everything, all your worries and grieving concerns. Just stop the Lord says. He says to come sit with Him a while and He’ll share and you share, like two friends walking together.

In Psalm 46:10, the primary term for being still or being quiet, is the Hebrew word, “Raphah” and means to slacken, relax, let go, sink down, and cease. It implies, this is good so pay attention, dropping one’s grip on efforts, anxieties, or self-reliance — going limp or withdrawing from frantic activity, grow mute and stand motionless. That’s quite a vision isn’t it? Please note, this is not passive laziness but active trust: stop opposing or striving. It connects to ideas of respite and waiting. There are a few other important words used elsewhere, one in particular means quietness, or cessation of noise and motion as in the calm after a storm. Psalm 4:4 literally is a picture of the Lord saying to stop your agitation and shaking, again, stop your agitated worrying unchecked obsession with your circumstances, and literally speak to your circumstances to “be still”, or be quiet and quiet the inner storm, trust God and rest in the Lord. Friend, find your quiet place and live there.

i think we should also see what God’s vision of quiet looks like, see thematically to understand the Lord takes quiet as a necessity for us. Consider the theme of Psalm 23. It’s a picture of quietness as God sees it. “The Lord is my shepherd”, not task master but shepherd. “i shall not want”, as in, in His presence i don’t need the endorsement of men, nor titles, nor being known. Jesus is enough for me. “He makes me lie down”, to cease from my labors and trust God has got me. “He leads me besides THE still waters”, not just any still place in the river, but THE still water. “He restores my soul”, when i was overcome with the cares of this life Jesus sets me upright and heals all my wounds and afflictions that He would be known as God who heals me, Exodus 15.26. And it continues in the words of God’s kind heart for His people. Go read it. Do you see it?

i love to walk in the light of a full moon after midnight on a warm summer evening. God’s quiet is phenomenal. i want that. i need that. Come let’s go quietly together and learn to create space to hear and encounter the Lord, whom we so desperately need. We will easily find God in the still places, the quiet places, the places we cease from our striving. Stand still and listen. He is there. Don’t you know being quiet creates space for trusting God. Live full of grace, softly and quietly. It’s beyond the beyond of the noise of this world.

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name Ministries.