quieted

 As I worked my way through some devotional readings, I came across this passage: The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)  I thought of my life. I thought of what the passage says about God and how He feels about me. He is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in me.  He will quiet me with his love. He will rejoice over me.

I confess that although I do not know if I fully understand what it means to be quieted by His love, I do know that there is something inside me that says, "I need that, Lord!" As I pondered more, I prayed, "Lord, please quiet me with Your love."

       "Lord, please quiet me with Your love.
       "Lord, please quiet me with Your love.
       "Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

"Lord, I get loud sometimes. Not so much verbally loud, but my spirit gets loud. My heart gets loud. My mind gets loud. The world around me gets loud and the loudness overwhelms me to the point that everything within me and around me seems to be loud. So, Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

"In these times of unrest and confusion in our nation and world, I need to be quieted by your love, dear Lord. Decisions are being made that may well change the way we live and function as a people. Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

"As the years pass more rapidly than my mind can comprehend, I need to be quieted with Your love. I cannot keep up. I try, but I seem to fall farther and farther behind. Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

"In times when I fear for my very life and for the lives of my family and friends, I need to be quieted by Your love. In times when my spirit is under attack by the Enemy to such an extent that I begin to wonder if You are still there, I need to be quieted by Your love. Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

"In times of discouragement when I have failed to live like You have asked me to live, I need to be quieted by Your love.  In times of disappointment over dreams that have faded and when other people have failed to live up to my expectations, I need to be quieted by Your love.  Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

"In times of loss and my heart has been broken, I need to be quieted by your love. In times of sadness when a joyful spirit seems too much to consider, I need to be quieted by Your love. Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

"In times of suffering and pain as the result of another's actions or my own, I need to be quieted by Your love. In times when others are suffering because of my actions and I am helpless to undo what I have done, I need to be quieted by Your love. And they need to be quieted by Your love. Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

"In times of distress and anxiety over all that I must do, or feel that I must do, I need to be quieted by Your love. In times when life is so loud that I cannot hear my own thoughts, I need to be quieted by Your love. Lord, please quiet me with Your love.

"Unless You quiet me with Your love, dear Lord, my life will surely be filled with noises that may drown Your voice from my ears. Lord, I need to be quieted by Your love.

"When I remind myself that You are with me, when I contemplate Your power, when I consider that You take great delight in me and when I think of You rejoicing over me with singing because of Your love for me, I am quieted. My heart is quieted. My spirit rests.

"Lord, You have quieted me with Your love."

"The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)
-tom norvell