my spirit fails to be gentle. Sometimes, when
my flesh gets the better of me, I take over-
bearing control of a situation. I hear God’s
Spirit warning me to keep quiet, and yet, I
refuse to listen. Instead, I release the hot air
that has been expanding inside of me. Like
a balloon, stretched to its limits, I burst;
littering small plastic fragments hither and
thither. In these instances, the anxiety has
been building. I have set my trajectory
on preventing anyone from hurting and
taking advantage of me any further. I have
suited on armor of self-preservation and am
charging into battle in defense of my own
heart, with stubborn disregard of the Spirit’s
calling. On the contrary, how does a gentle
spirit respond to conflict, I wonder? Perhaps
with humility, entrusting Him to lift me
back up, in due time.
1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God so that at the
proper time he may exalt you,”
Having a gentle spirit, is not the stuff of
weaklings. It takes great strength from God
to trust the Holy Spirit inside of me, instead
of bulldozing my way ahead on the waves
of prideful self-preservation and emotions.
No wonder, God finds a gentle spirit so
precious. Maybe a gentle spirit is one that is
surrendered to Him.
The next part of the spirit that God
mentions as being very precious, is the quiet
spirit. At first glance, this gives the impres-
sion that maybe I should sit stoically in a
corner while keeping all my opinions to
myself. But then, he’s not talking about a
quiet body, he’s talking about a quiet spirit.
So what does a quiet spirit look like? There
is a memory verse I have been treasuring,
and I wonder if these words reveal some of
what God esteems in a quiet spirit:
“You keep him in perfect peace whose
mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
Isaiah 26:3
The depth of this verse still startles me,
even after replaying it numerous times. To
keep my mind stayed on Jesus, seems to be a
24 hour battle. My first response when I get
bad news, my day is falling apart and my
work isn’t getting done is to plummet into
low grade panic. It’s not to trust God, keep
my mind on Him and to experience His
perfect peace. But that’s what I want. I want
to believe that He really is my “ever present
help in trouble”. That He is continually
with me and holding me by my right hand.
To solidly trust that I need not be afraid,
regardless of mountains falling and oceans
foaming (Psalm 46:1-3, 73:23). And undoubt-
edly, the only way my spirit can ever truly
be this quiet, is when it is slumbering in the
sovereign hands of its Father.
So in the end, maybe having a gentle
and quiet spirit is contrary to a world where
reliance on someone invisible seems rather
childish and perhaps ludicrous. And yet, a
gentle and quiet spirit seeks after a strength
much greater than its own. It is fully surren-
dered to the will of an all-powerful and
sovereign God.
Juliane Wiebracht is a homemaker in Longview,
TX who shares God’s love with women who are
incarcerated.
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