When a household faces a big decision, everyone has an opinion. Sell the family house or keep it? Take the job abroad and rent the place out? Borrow for the extension or wait another year? The realtor has a view. The bank has a view. Your brother in Toronto has a strong view. The neighbour who has lived on the road for forty years has several. By the end of the week, the kitchen table is covered in printouts and the voices in your head are louder than the ones on the phone.
In the middle of all that noise, a short line from the psalms offers a different starting point.
I will listen to what God the LORD says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants. (Psalm 85:8, NIV)
A psalm about coming home
Psalm 85 was written by people who had seen God restore their fortunes and bring them back to their land, and who were now asking Him to do it again. It is, in a sense, a homecoming psalm. The same psalm speaks of the Lord giving what is good and the land yielding its harvest (Psalm 85:12). It is concerned with real places, real crops and real households.
And in the middle of their longing for restoration, the psalmist does something simple. He stops and decides to listen.
Listening is a decision
Notice the words: I will listen. It is not a passive hope that God might break through the noise. It is a choice to make room. For a household, that might mean agreeing not to sign anything for a set number of days. It might mean turning off the phone for an evening and reading Scripture together. It might mean a husband and wife each going for a walk alone to pray before they talk again.
Jesus said that His sheep hear His voice (John 10:27). God speaks, first and most clearly, through His Word. He also speaks through wise counsel, through circumstances, through the quiet conviction that settles in a praying heart. None of those are drowned out by other voices, unless we let the other voices do all the talking.
What God’s peace is like
The psalm links listening to peace. God promises peace to His people. But what does that peace feel like in a housing decision?
It is not the same as excitement. You can be thrilled about a house and have no peace about it. It is not the same as the absence of risk; every decision carries some. And it is not a feeling that overrides wisdom. Peace from God does not tell you to skip the survey or ignore a title problem.
Often it is a steadiness underneath the nerves. A sense that the decision fits with what you know of God’s ways: honesty, generosity, care for family, freedom from crushing debt. A unity between husband and wife, or among the family, that was not there before you prayed. The psalm goes on to picture love and faithfulness meeting together, righteousness and peace kissing each other (Psalm 85:10). God’s peace tends to arrive in company with what is right.
The warning in the verse
The full verse in many translations ends with a caution: let them not turn again to folly. Having heard God, we can still choose the foolish path. We can know that the payment is too high and sign anyway. We can sense that selling Mummy’s house now would wound a sibling deeply, and push ahead regardless. Listening is only half of it. The other half is following.
Practising the pause
- Set a waiting period before any major household decision, even if only a few days.
- Write down the options, then pray over each one by name.
- Ask one or two wise, trusted people for counsel, rather than everyone.
- Notice whether peace grows or shrinks as you consider each option.
- If you are married or deciding as a family, wait until you can move forward together.
For reflection
- Which voices have been loudest in your latest household decision, and has God’s been among them?
- What would it take to create a quiet space this week simply to listen?
A prayer
Lord, there are so many voices around this decision, and my own thoughts are the loudest of all. Quiet me. Help me to listen to what You say, through Your Word and through the people You have placed around me. Give our household Your peace, and the courage to follow where it leads, and not turn back to folly. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Follow Jamaica Homes on Youtube @jamaicahomes and Instagram @jamaica_homes and on Facebook @jamaicahomesnews Send us a message or email us at onlinefeedback@jamaica-homes.com or editor@jamaica-homes.com
Visit our YouTube Community ↗