THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS WE AVOID SILENCE, SO MANY TYPES OF noise we choose to fill the gaping voids in our souls. Social media is just the obvious one. We keep music playing in the car or streaming through our headphones. We pack our schedules with all the good things we think we should be doing. We juggle committees and demanding jobs and try to keep up with an unrealistic number of friends—yet we feel isolated. We often do so much for God that we barely meet with Him. As a result, we feel as though we are losing everywhere we look.

Amid all this busyness, we’ve made it impossible to hear His voice saying, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

And why are we filling our schedules to the max and doing everything we can to stay busy? What is it we are running or hiding from? What keeps us from carving out space and time for the quiet we so desperately need?

Ready for it?

We are afraid of being found out.

Just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we find ourselves naked and afraid in life, and so we choose to hide. We fear being put to work or asked to do something hard. We fear being asked to change or give something up. And most frightening, we fear being alone. Quiet time isn’t so quiet, is it? Our heads actually get noisier when the noise all around us falls away.

But behind every one of these fears is a lie: I cannot face God as I am.

Here’s the truth: We are messed up, every one of us. Which is exactly why we need time with God alone, in the quiet, where we can hear His healing voice. We have a choice between chaos and quiet, between noise and solitude with God, between denial and healing.

The antidote to running from ourselves is running to the only One who helps us get over ourselves. The lie is that we will be shamed. The truth is that the God who is Creator and sovereign over the universe and the God who conquered sin and death is the same God who wants to be with you in your pain, shame, and other circumstances.

We forget that God not only loves us but actually likes us too. Yep, He sees all; He knows every thought before we think it. And somehow, unlike humans, He has grace for all.

It’s a lie that you’ll feel better if you stay distracted. The truth is, only being with God will satisfy you.

MEDITATE:

Be still, and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)

REWIRE THE SPIRAL:

God likes me and wants a relationship with me.

PRAYER:

God, I choose to be still with You. Thank You for loving me as I am, and for wanting to be with me. Draw my heart to You in the quiet today. Amen.”

Excerpted from Stop the Spiral Devotional by Jennie Allen. Copyright © 2024 by Jennie Allen. Published by WaterBrook, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC. Used by permission.

Jennie Allen is the founder and visionary of IF:Gathering and Gather25 as well as the New York Times bestselling author of Get Out of Your Head, Untangle Your Emotions, Find Your People, You Are Not Alone, Made for This, Anything, and Nothing to Prove. Jennie’s new devotional is Stop the Spiral. A frequent speaker at national events and conferences, she is a passionate leader, following God’s call on her life to catalyze a generation to live what they believe. Jennie earned a master’s in biblical studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. She and her husband, Zac, have four children.