Quietness

I used to dream of being famous. (Who didn’t?) Throughout my life I have wanted to be all kinds of different things–an athlete, a musician, an artist, an author, even a Pastor (different kind of famous, I guess). But here I am, the ripe old age of 31, my life half over, well passed the age I thought I would have already been a millionaire, and yet I am nothing. But I am learning to accept that.

Not really. It is hard to accept. I still want to be heard. I still want to be seen. I still want to be followed. I still want to be popular. Nope, it didn’t go away after high school. And the worst part is, I am all the more shy, apathetic, introverted, and boring today as I ever was. Kind of frustrating, actually.

But today I ran across two bible verses, both of which leapt off the page (the screen) and slapped me in the face.

The first was in Esther (when I searched the bible for “popular”):

“For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.” –Esther 10:3

And the second was in Ecclesiastes (when I searched for “quiet”):

“There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.” (Ecclesiastes 9:14-17)

The first verse from Esther taught me that popularity (fame) in God’s eyes is meant for those who genuinely seek the welfare of others. Something I am very poor at. When you think of the most famous and effective men and women of the bible, none of them sought the popularity itself, they sought the welfare of others.

In the second passage from Ecclesiastes, I was first drawn to verse 17: “The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.” It would be better for me to be quiet and speak even one word of wisdom to one individual than to be the most famous of celebrities shouting at the top of my lungs like a fool. (Now the hard part: finding one person who will listen to me… and finding something wise to say to them!)

Verse 17 is what caught my attention, but the context of the passage sucked me in. Here is a poor man, a wise man, who somehow delivers his entire city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered him. He didn’t get popular like Mordecai did in the book of Esther. He sought other’s welfare too, but no one cared. Even though his wisdom was so great, it did not afford him popularity. In fact, “the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.”

Popularity is so overrated. (That’s my excuse anyway).

So hopefully I’m done trying to make a name for myself (says the man typing all of this on to a public blog). Hopefully I will move forward being more concerned about the things of the Lord and how I can best serve him in quietness and seek the welfare of others than about how I can use “my talents” to garnish a following.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go post a link to this article on Facebook so all my friends can read it. I wonder how many “likes” I will get?