Five-Minute Stillness Leads to More

Choosing God’s Voice Over the Noise

Hey friend… thanks for joining me today!

So we’ve come out of the wilderness, and we’re finding that even though there is freedom, it’s still hard navigating this new place. We are finding that the noise around us is loud and the influences are nonstop. Did we honestly realize that it was gonna be this noisy? That’s a tough one.

But here’s what I’m learning: I would much rather be in this new place with this noise than in the old place in bondage. You see, here even in the noise I have choices—we have choices. And a big part of those choices is learning how to be still in this noise.

And it’s not what you’re thinking, cause it wasn’t what I was thinking.

Most days, my alarm is set for 6am in hopes of my best intentions actually coming to fruition. My plan is to carve out early morning time BEFORE I get to my office, which is located in my space at home. So I plan to sit down with my Bible in my journal and coffee in my favorite mug and just spend time with Jesus in the morning as the dawn breaks. You know.. like the wonderful stock photo that we all use to reflect our intentions of quiet time.

But the alarm sounds and I … well, I lightly touch snooze, because that is a lot better than “slapping” it.

And for a solid 45 minutes, I lay there thinking about why my alarm is going off and why I am not getting up.

I know… this is not my most beautiful confession, but our journey on these backroads is about being able to be honest and real.

So, after all of the snoozing and getting up to start the day, I sit down and have my quiet time an hour later than I had intended. And then the noise starts. Emails, notifications, messages, and tending to the furbabies. That leaves my quiet time feeling rushed, which leads me to resolve to try again tomorrow morning to get up and have quiet time when the house is only as noisy as I make it.

It’s not that I don’t have quiet time. The issue is that it’s surrounded by so much noise that it no longer feels like a soft morning with Jesus. Being still is not just a verse to be hung on a canvas surrounded by pretty artwork. It is a request from God… more like an instruction… that He wants us to learn to follow. Not for His sake. He is available any time of the day. It is for us. He wants us to experience a stillness that the world cannot offer in the best vacation spots in the world.

On the backroads, we are able to slow down and find our stillness exit when we choose to look for it.

You see, getting still in this noisy, chaotic world is simply a choice to choose which voice to listen to. It’s a choice of deciding how much influence we need from 24/7 news and social media. This is how we get still—we choose what voices we allow to be loud in our lives.

Now hear me out. I’m not saying all social media is bad. I’m not saying that it needs to be removed from the face of the Earth entirely, although that would probably be the biggest gift to all of us. I am simply saying that we need to choose the avenues where we gather information.

Does this mean we need to turn off our TVs? No. Does this mean we need to turn off our radios and every other thing that we listen to? No, no—of course not. It means we choose positive and encouraging voices to pour into our lives. There’s nothing wrong with a wholesome movie, nor is there anything wrong with listening to an audiobook, but when it’s 24/7, our minds become cloudy, and we have no idea how to navigate these backroads in order to encounter Jesus.

Here’s what I am learning, even though I have failed at getting up at the 6am alarm more times than I had intended: being still isn’t just an idea that looks like a curated magazine photo. Getting still is a daily practice of choosing to pull over long enough to choose God’s voice above all the noise.

We are not perfect, and we are not performing… we aren’t proving anything to God. That is why we practice pulling over.

What do you do when you are enjoying the roadtrip and you realize that you should have turned onto a different road? You pull over, turn down the music, and check the map. You take time to recalibrate, and then you turn around to get on the right road. This is being still.

It is in the stillness that you are able to see the direction and recalibrate the journey.

Friend, these pullovers don’t have to be the picture-perfect Instagram moments. Nowhere in His Word does God request that our stillness look perfectly curated in the perfect house with the perfect cup of coffee and perfect table. This is our definition. We are the ones who choose to keep driving and rushing. We reason with ourselves that we will pull over when there is more time or when life is less chaotic.

Well, here’s the spoiler alert: life will remain chaotic, and the noise will most likely get louder.

What if Five Minutes Made a Huge Difference?

A while back, I had a small breakthrough moment about this whole getting still thing. I was getting a late start on the day (surprising, I know), and I felt like I needed to literally stop moving. I set down my coffee, put down my pen, and I got still. But my mind did not. I was mentally listing the reasons why I didn’t have time for this:

It’s almost 8am

I still need to check emails

Five minutes won’t matter

But then this thought came: What if I chose which voice would be loudest?

So I moved everything to the side of my desk, and I just sat and let myself get lost in the moment. The music was low, and my eyes were closed. I was just waiting to hear the voice that would lead my day.

And guess what? Noooo, silly, there was no loud pomp and circumstance. It was quiet.

A most beautiful time of nothing but my Jesus and me.

Those five minutes ended up making a huge difference in the trajectory of my day. There was no rush. No thoughts of wondering where to start the day. I had recalibrated and aligned with who God says I am. Now I am not saying that all my problems were solved, and my task list was completely checked. But it allowed me to get still long enough to know that everything I do is about who I am in Christ. I don’t have to get it all perfect. That is God’s job.

In all the voices competing for my attention, only one deserves it. It is the only one that knows the direction of this journey.

Stillness Isn’t What You Think

Now it’s time to get deep into the way we see this whole stillness thing. Honestly, I think we have been sold some fraudulent advice about stillness.

Stillness isn’t laziness. It’s not checking out. It’s not tuning into the noise that makes us “feel” spiritual.

Stillness is surrender. It is a choice. It has a purpose.

It is up to us to choose to live a life surrendered to a purpose that we did not choose. It is being intentional about what we allow to weigh in on our decisions and what we consume in every aspect of life. It is letting God be God.

This active surrender comes from Psalm 46:10. In this verse, the Hebrew word raphah literally means to let go, to release, to stop fighting. This is the same word used when a soldier lays down their weapon in battle.

We are not being asked to add anything to a long list of to-dos. God is simply inviting us to put down the weapons in battles that we were not designed to be fighting. He is asking us to turn down the voices in the world and listen for His. He is inviting us to pull over even though it feels like we can’t afford to stop.

Ahhh.. yes.. this requires action on our part. This is where we have received fraudulent advice.

We don’t have to have the perfect quiet time routine to start practicing stillness.

We don’t need a specific amount of time, journal, pen, or color-coded Bible study system. Friend, you don’t even have to get rid of social media or your TV.

You just need five minutes and a willingness to pull over. You only need to choose one voice above all others.

The where or when of the five minutes doesn’t matter. It’s just the intentional choice of your heart to hear His that matters. That is all He is asking. Remember, with God, the small things lead to the bigger things. That is where transformation happens.

When we choose to give Him five minutes, and we realize the goodness of His stillness in those moments, our heart begins to put time with Him first, and the next thing you know… You are finding yourself with longer and more meaningful quiet time.

Did you ever play sports? I did. Quite a few, actually, but my favorites were basketball and softball. I remember all the practices we had. We would spend an hour each afternoon learning how to run the plays, shoot, pitch, catch, throw, steal the ball, steal a base, or any other skill needed to help us be the best players we could be. Then we would eventually use each of those skills to play a game, and hopefully win.

Quiet time takes practice. Learning to get the basic skills so that in-depth study doesn’t find us distracted and just going through motions. The more time you spend with Jesus in the five-minute intervals, the longer those intervals get.

Challenge:

I invite you to try one… yes, Friend, just one five-minute pullover this week. Intentionally choose God’s voice over the other noise and get still.

There is no requirement for an eloquent prayer or for reading a certain number of chapters in the Bible. There are no journal requirements.

Just pull over and turn down the noise.

It doesn’t matter if you feel anything or if you sit and think about your grocery list. This is practice, and it’s not about perfection. It’s about choosing to show up at an invitation to pullover with Jesus.

Breakthrough doesn’t happen in the hustle and bustle. It doesn’t happen with constant consumption of podcasts, sermons, songs, or books by others. It happens in the pullover. It happens when we are still enough to encounter Jesus.

Fellow traveler, what’s one voice you need to turn down this week so you can hear God’s voice more clearly? Where could you find five minutes to pull over and choose stillness over noise?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Scripture Reference: Psalm 46:10 (ESV) – “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”