The entire following entry is taken from the book Keep a Quiet Heart by Elisabeth Elliot. I first read it when my heart desperately needed to be quieted, and I’ve gone back and re-read it several times. To try to say any better what she has already said so well would be an exercise in futility, so I’ll leave it alone. I hope it encourages you…
Jesus slept on a pillow in the midst of a raging storm. How could He? The terrified disciples, sure that the next wave would send them straight to the bottom, shook Him awake with rebuke. How could He be so careless of their fate?
He could because He slept in the calm assurance that His Father was in control. His was a quiet heart. We see Him move serenely through all the events of His life — when He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He knew that He would suffer many things and be killed in Jerusalem, He never deviated from His course. He had set His face like flint. He sat at supper with one who would deny Him and another who would betray Him, yet He was able to eat with them, willing even to wash their feet. Jesus in the unbroken intimacy of His Father’s love, kept a quiet heart.
None of us possesses a heart so perfectly at rest, for none lives in such divine unity, but we can learn a little more each day of what Jesus knew…Jesus, because His will was one with His Father’s, could be free from care. He had the blessed assurance of knowing that His Father would do the caring, would be attentive to His Son’s need….He knew when to take action and when to leave things to His Father. He taught us to work and watch but never to worry, to do gladly whatever we are given to do, and to leave all else with God.
Purity of heart…is to will one thing. The Son willed only one thing: the will of His Father….One whose aim is as pure as that can have a completely quiet heart, knowing what the psalmist knew, “Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup, and have made my lot secure.” (Ps. 16:5)…Can we say that there are things which happen to us which do not belong to our lovingly assigned “portion”? Are some things, then, out of the control of the Almighty?
Every assignment is measured and controlled for my eternal good. As I accept the given portion other options are cancelled. Decisions become much easier, directions clearer, and hence my heart becomes inexpressibly quieter.
…
A quiet heart is content with what God gives. It is enough. All is grace…
…all is under my Father’s control: yes, recalcitrant computers, faulty transmissions, drawbridges which happen to be up when one is in a hurry. My portion. My cup. My lot is secure. my heart can be at peace. My Father is in charge. How simple!
My assignment entails my willing acceptance of my portion–in matters far beyond comparison with the trivialities just mentioned, such as the death of a precious baby… We can only know that Eternal Love is wiser than we, and we bow in adoration of that loving wisdom.
Response is what matters. (Remember the Israelites…all experienced the same, But God was not pleased with most of them. Their response was all wrong.) The same almighty God apportioned their experience. All events serve His will. Some responded in faith. Most did not.
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Cor 10:13)
Think of that promise and keep a quiet heart! Our enemy delights in disquieting us. Our Savior and Helper delights in quieting us. “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you” is His promise. (Is. 66:13) The choice is ours. It depends on our willingness to see everything in God, receive all from His hand, accept with gratitude just the portion and the cup He offers. Shall I charge Him with a mistake in His measurements or with misjudging the sphere in which I can best learn to trust Him? Has He misplaced me? Is He ignorant of things or people which, in my view, hinder my doing His will?
God came down and lived in this same world as a man. He showed us how to live in this world, subject to its vicissitudes and necessities, that we might be changed — not into an angel or storybook princess, not wafted into another world, but changed into saints in this world. The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.
He could because He slept in the calm assurance that His Father was in control. His was a quiet heart. We see Him move serenely through all the events of His life — when He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He knew that He would suffer many things and be killed in Jerusalem, He never deviated from His course. He had set His face like flint. He sat at supper with one who would deny Him and another who would betray Him, yet He was able to eat with them, willing even to wash their feet. Jesus in the unbroken intimacy of His Father’s love, kept a quiet heart.
None of us possesses a heart so perfectly at rest, for none lives in such divine unity, but we can learn a little more each day of what Jesus knew…Jesus, because His will was one with His Father’s, could be free from care. He had the blessed assurance of knowing that His Father would do the caring, would be attentive to His Son’s need….He knew when to take action and when to leave things to His Father. He taught us to work and watch but never to worry, to do gladly whatever we are given to do, and to leave all else with God.
Purity of heart…is to will one thing. The Son willed only one thing: the will of His Father….One whose aim is as pure as that can have a completely quiet heart, knowing what the psalmist knew, “Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup, and have made my lot secure.” (Ps. 16:5)…Can we say that there are things which happen to us which do not belong to our lovingly assigned “portion”? Are some things, then, out of the control of the Almighty?
Every assignment is measured and controlled for my eternal good. As I accept the given portion other options are cancelled. Decisions become much easier, directions clearer, and hence my heart becomes inexpressibly quieter.
…
A quiet heart is content with what God gives. It is enough. All is grace…
…all is under my Father’s control: yes, recalcitrant computers, faulty transmissions, drawbridges which happen to be up when one is in a hurry. My portion. My cup. My lot is secure. my heart can be at peace. My Father is in charge. How simple!
My assignment entails my willing acceptance of my portion–in matters far beyond comparison with the trivialities just mentioned, such as the death of a precious baby… We can only know that Eternal Love is wiser than we, and we bow in adoration of that loving wisdom.
Response is what matters. (Remember the Israelites…all experienced the same, But God was not pleased with most of them. Their response was all wrong.) The same almighty God apportioned their experience. All events serve His will. Some responded in faith. Most did not.
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Cor 10:13)
Think of that promise and keep a quiet heart! Our enemy delights in disquieting us. Our Savior and Helper delights in quieting us. “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you” is His promise. (Is. 66:13) The choice is ours. It depends on our willingness to see everything in God, receive all from His hand, accept with gratitude just the portion and the cup He offers. Shall I charge Him with a mistake in His measurements or with misjudging the sphere in which I can best learn to trust Him? Has He misplaced me? Is He ignorant of things or people which, in my view, hinder my doing His will?
God came down and lived in this same world as a man. He showed us how to live in this world, subject to its vicissitudes and necessities, that we might be changed — not into an angel or storybook princess, not wafted into another world, but changed into saints in this world. The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best,
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.
Gives unto each day what He deems best,
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.
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