Practicing Solitude

 

This past week, I have found myself with more free time than usual, which is unusual. Things have slowed down at work, and I have been blessed to have more time at home. This has allowed me to do more study and reading and catching up on neglected tasks.

But something I’ve noticed is how much I have come to love quietness and solitude and silence.

In a world that is constantly noisy, vying for our attention, always moving, never resting, it’s often difficult to find that quiet that the soul craves.

The unceasing chaos of our world leaves our souls feeling unsettled. Our minds and our bodies run at a hundred miles per hour, racing along, tripping over each other, pushing and shoving, striving to be first in importance.

We race along in the raging river of life, struggling to keep our head above water, choking as the waves crash overhead, stubbing our toes on rocks underfoot, scraping our shins on submerged logs, hoping to find rest at the end of the day. But as we lay our heads down on our pillows, desiring to block out the restlessness we feel inside, we find that our anxious thoughts take over and we are only resting in body, but not in mind.

Our emotions take over and threaten to overwhelm us. We find we can’t sleep, we can’t relax, we can’t unwind the tightened spiral that has been slowly winding itself up throughout the day.

And so, we use distractions. We scroll on our phones, we watch a mind-numbing movie, we binge eat things that will only worsen the problem, we drown out the noise with more noise in the form of music that has empty, meaningless lyrics. And none of it works.

And at long last, we turn to the Words of Scripture.

We open to the book of Psalms, knowing that it is a treasure trove of wisdom, comfort, help, strength and guidance.

And as we open to the first Psalm, we read these words:

Psalm 1:1-2 KJV - Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And we realise that God calls us to rest. He calls us to spend time with him. And he blesses those who choose to be still with him in his Word.

And this is where the holy habit of solitude comes in. Solitude requires temporarily removing ourselves from people in order to be present with God.

I believe that solitude is a spiritual discipline. The reason it is a discipline, is because it’s so hard to do. It takes effort.

Taking time out of our busy lives, getting alone with the Lord is one aspect of our faith that we often ignore. We think that to be a super Christian we need to be busy, busy, busy. Doing the Lord’s work, in ministry, in fellowship, in our jobs as a testimony and a witness. And yes, all of these things are important and shouldn’t be neglected, but what is lacking is solitude. Sacred solitude.

When we read that word ‘meditate’, we may get the idea that we have to cross our legs in an uncomfortable position, close our eyes, and think of nothing. Well, I don’t know about you, but firstly, I can’t sit like that and secondly, I can’t think of nothing!

The general definition of this word means to focus your mind for a period of time and think deeply about something.

But did you know that the Hebrew word for meditate is haga and it means to moan, to utter. It is often translated as to ruminate, to chew on.

So, if we are to meditate on the Word of God, we have to be reading it. We have to chew on it. We have to have it in our minds. We have to speak to the Lord, sometimes we have to moan, or cry out to him. And we have to think deeply about what we’ve read and heard, learning and growing in our walk with him.

We have to have times of solitude. Times of drawing away from others to be with the Lord. We have to find the balance between our work and our rest.

The Lord Jesus modelled this for us throughout Scripture.

Mark 6:31-32 KJV - And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.

The Lord knew the importance of rest and solitude. He understood the need to get away and spend time with the Father.

Luke 6:12-13 KJV - And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;

He also knew that rest brings refreshing and a renewed energy for the tasks at hand. In this passage in Luke, he spent all night in prayer and when daylight came, he was able to do the task at hand, that of choosing his disciples, because he worked out of rest.

In Matthew 26, we read of a time when Jesus was overwhelmed with what lay ahead, and instead of trying to busy himself with distractions, he took time to pray and process his emotions and gain strength.

He took a sacred pause. He slipped away to a quiet place. And in doing so, he set an example for us to follow. He showed us that when life is overwhelming, we need to take a sacred pause and spend time alone with him, wrestling with our emotions, working through our feelings and the things we struggle to understand, crying out to him, laying it all before him, and asking him for help. Only then will we find the renewal and refreshing we need.

There are many verses in the Bible that stress the importance of God’s Word and meditating on it. Read Psalm 119 and you will be blessed with verse after verse that encourages you to be in the Word on a daily basis.

But a verse that stood out to me today is found in the book of Romans.

Romans 15:4 KJV - For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

The very Word I’m spending time in was sent to settle my unsettled soul. The things written in the Word of God were written not only for us to learn from, but they were written for our comfort and to bring us hope.

In those times of stillness, when we sit with the Word of God open on our laps, pouring over its promises and Words of comfort, the Father speaks to us. He ministers to us. He blesses us. He brings rest to our souls. He calms our anxious minds. He brings peace.

We will never know true rest until we practice solitude.

A sacred solitude where we sit and let the Lord speak to us. A time where we tune out the world and its distractions.  A time where we let his peace flood our soul. A time where we let his Word wash over us, sinking into our minds and hearts. We have to make time to be still.

Psalm 46:10 KJV - Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

You may be saying, “But I’m too busy and can’t afford to practice solitude.”

Well, I’m here to tell you, you can’t afford not to!

If you don’t take time to get alone with God on a regular basis, all your busyness, all your striving, all your labour will amount to nothing.

We have to find the balance.

It takes courage to choose solitude. It takes courage to make time for rest.

Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is to pause.

To say no to something good, to make time for something better.

Choosing time with the Lord will always be more important than anything on your agenda. And although you may feel as though you don’t have the time for it, God will increase your productivity and enable you to work from rest in a way you wouldn’t have been able to do, had you not taken a sacred pause in your day or week.

If you don’t believe me, then I dare you to try it!

I’ll leave you with a very well-known verse.

Matthew 11:28 KJV - Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Remember, you have to come to him in order to find rest. You have to stop running and sit at the feet of Jesus.

Practice solitude.

Spend time alone with God.

Take a sacred pause in your day.

And he will bring you rest.