But He would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
Luke 5:16
The power of solitude. For the born again believer, solitude or seclusion brings an incredible opportunity to experience silence. Silence from the world. Silence from the busyness. Silence from the noise. As a born again believer, we can be apart from others and the things that are going on around us, but we will never be apart from the Holy Spirit. That’s a beautiful thing. When the world becomes quiet, our ability to listen and hear God’s voice exponentially increases.
Unfortunately, we live in a culture that seems to never slow down or to never take a break. It’s disorderly, even deafening at times. The dangerous part is that it has become far too normalized. It pushes us to always need to be busy, working, entertained, unavailable. Like hamsters on a wheel, we go round and round and seldom ask why or what for.
Solitude interrupts our overloaded routine. It gets us away from the things that get in the way. Away from others. Away from idle chit-chat. Away from questions. Away from busyness. Though these have importance, sometimes what is most important is to remove ourselves from all the distractions.
Psalm 46:10 starts out with this simple proclamation…
Be still, and know that I am God.
The Hebrew word used here to be still means to sink down, to relax. That’s a powerful picture when it comes to positioning ourselves before the Lord.
Texts, phone calls, Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, binge watching, why is this red light taking so long, don’t they know I’m busy, hurry up and answer, what’s taking so long?
Relax, sink down, be still and know that I am God.
Maybe we have been conditioned to fear the silence. Made to think that quiet time by ourselves means we are lazy or selfish or anti-social. But the example Jesus demonstrated in the Gospels is just that. If He placed a priority upon withdrawing to desolate places to pray, to be still, to quiet the world around Him and know, to ascertain by seeing, to place His confidence in His Father, if this was so necessary for Jesus, how can we think we don’t need it even more?
Where is your solitude?
Jason Metz, lead Pastor
