When the World Is Too Loud, Day 7

In a world of relentless noise, Advent teaches us to listen for the one voice that brings rest. Peace comes not by escape, but by the quieting presence of the Prince of Peace.

The world is a very noisy place. There are competing volume markets seeking your attention and approval. If they can just shout louder than the other options, perhaps they will sell you something, earn your subscription, get your endorsement, or take a slice of your charity pie. We live in a market of ideas and ideologies, and human beings are the only creatures in that market with the ability to discern between competing theories and decide. We are created beings made to seek approval and status. We make judgments based on what appeals to our imagination. We don’t remain neutral in life. We make decisions that will serve our purposes and preferences, and sometimes those preferences are sinful and lead to all sorts of unhappy circumstances.

We may have already learned that our hot temper did not produce peace; indulging in that thing did not bring peace; following that road did not lead to peace; listening to that philosophy did not give us peace. Advent exposes these illusions. The more we consider the coming of Jesus, the more we realize we need the Prince of Peace. Only the volume of His voice gives us peace.

We need His words, His song, His cheer to fill our background—to be in our hearts, minds, and souls. We confess together that the noises of this world never provide the calm and quiet we need to live peaceable lives before God and man.

What Peace Is Not

Peace is something we crave and yet often distance ourselves from by the very ways we pursue it. How often have we said: “When we get that new home, then we will have peace,” or “When the kids are out of diapers… when I graduate… when I get married… then I will finally have peace.” But Psalm 131 interrupts this illusion. It is brief, sweet, and biographical. It gives us access to the life of a man—David—who learned composure. He discovered peace, not a sentimental peace, but peace like a river which attendeth my way and peace that passes all understanding. Peace in the midst of big decisions. Peace that knows war is sometimes the road to rest.

David was a productive man—not “busy” in the way we use that word to excuse our lack of peace, but productive in a way that did not devour him. He was not stumbling through “the mine field of blind longings and fears.” He set his heart toward a beatific vision:

“O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.”

This is not stoicism or romanticized quiet. It is not introversion, withdrawal, or avoiding difficult people. David did not reach this state overnight. He learned peace through humility, through confrontation, through repentance, through community—through Nathan’s rebuke, through the wounds of friends, through knowing his limits. Pride says, “I’m right in myself.” Haughty eyes say, “I’m right compared to you.” Neither produces peace.

The Weaned Soul

Then comes the heart of Psalm 131:

“But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.”

David put rituals in place to still his inner world. He stopped pursuing things too great. He stopped defining himself by accomplishments, impressions, or illusions of control. A quiet soul is one freed from the tyranny of perception—freed to find Christ’s approval infinitely more meaningful than the noise of provocateurs.

And finally:

“O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.”

Hope grounds peace. Hope in Yahweh ties peace to a Person, not a mood. Advent peace is not abstract; it is found in the One who invades our loud and tumultuous hearts with calmness and quiet.

Advent invites us to resist the noisy competitors of our age—and the noisy competitors inside our own hearts. We are not at peace because we do not want the Prince of Peace. But when we rest in Christ, when we let those who love us speak truth, when we embrace rituals of grace—worship, fellowship, prayer, and mercy—peace becomes the outflow of a rightly ordered life.

David found tranquility in a chaotic world because he knew the noises of this world could not compete with the voice of Yahweh. If the volume of hope in your life is low, turn it up. Emmanuel comes to calm and quiet your soul.