The Circle of Quiet

^12-15 How blessed the man you train, God, the woman you instruct in your Word, providing a circle of quiet within the clamor of evil, while a jail is being built for the wicked. God will never walk away from his people, never desert his precious people.  Rest assured that justice is on its way and every good heart put right. 

(Psalm 94:12-15 The Message)

How blessed the man you train!  How blessed the woman you instruct in your Word!  Awesome words, huh?  Did you know that there are other words for "blessed" in our English vocabulary?  Namely, they are:  Consecrated, Sacred, Holy, Sanctified, Supremely Favored, and Blissfully Happy!  Wow!  Now that says a lot, doesn't it?  The one trained or instructed by God is really a pretty privileged individual!

As I sat in English class during my high school days, one of my most favorite things I learned to do was "diagram" a sentence.  My teacher would remind me that there is always a subject of the sentence, that a whole lot of other "matter" might be contained in that sentence, but it always has a subject!  The subject of our passage today is GOD!  Perhaps you missed that, so I thought I'd point it out to you!  

There is also a concept in constructing a sentence that is called "defining the condition".  In other words, a cause-and-effect relationship is laid out.  For example, "Bring me the remote, and I will change the channel."  The condition is that the remote needs to be in my hand before the channel can be changed.  The desired outcome of the cause-and-effect is that the channel gets to the one that we desire to watch.

Here we have it - the condition - "Be trained by God" and "Let his Word instruct you".  The outcome of the training and instructing - consecration, being made holy, growing in God's favor, and being blissfully content in his love!  To that, I can only shout, "Woohoo!"  Who does the training and instructing - this is the subject - GOD!  

Remember that I said that a sentence might contain other "matter" that gives structure to the sentence?  Well, here is some of that "other matter" that we should not miss from this passage:

- Those that are trained and instructed learn to enjoy the privilege of a "circle of quiet" in their lives!  Have you ever wondered why some people call the time they take to speak with God, enjoy time in his Word, and to praise him their "Quiet Time"?  Maybe the idea stems from this passage!  When all the rest of the world is caught up in the chaos of the "clamor of evil", we can nuzzle up to Jesus and enjoy the "circle of quiet" that his presence provides!

- God does not "walk away" from his people.  In a world filled with all kinds of "deserters", that is a good thing to know!  It does my heart good to realize that God actually pursues me when I am "walking away" from HIM!  Not too many would pursue someone who is fickle enough to turn their back on the best thing going!  Yet, in his intense love for us, he does!

- Justice is on its way!  We may not see it today, but there is a promised arrival!  With its arrival - the good will enjoy the privilege of being "put right". What could that mean?  I think God is reminding us that the picture may be bleak right now, but in the end, he is the one that makes his people shine!  

Just some thoughts for us to ponder today as we go about our busy schedules.  Don't forget to draw into that "circle of quiet" and really let him do the work of training and instructing that comes in those moments.  Those very moments may be what you will hold onto in the chaos of the hours ahead!