What are God’s intentions for your life? God has proven His love for you by coming in the flesh, dwelling among us, living a sinless life, and offering Himself as the complete sacrifice for your sins. By the power of the Father, Jesus was raised from the grave, never to die again.
He did all of that for a reason, many reasons in fact. He did it because He loves you, because He wanted you to know what life was supposed to be like, because He wanted you to know what He was really like, because we wanted to give you both an abundant life, and an eternal life. His good intention was that your life would be transformed by His grace and mercy, that you would be characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.
However, you may choose to dilute God’s good intentions, not because you’re a wicked person, but by living the life as one of His followers in the “wrong” way. Being a Christ-follower is not about living a moral life, it is not about being baptized and going to church, it’s about transformation. Worry and anxiety, hurry and aggravation, depression and fear, selfishness and jealousy overwhelm us and crowd out the abundance of Christlike qualities God intends.
Our culture moves at light speed, literally. With the internet and digital technology, and scientific advances happening everyday, it is easy to get overwhelmed and distracted by just getting by in life. This is where the discipline of solitude comes in, a discipline that is voluntary and temporary, but at the same time contrary to what we usually experience in our culture.
You may be uncomfortable with silence. You get home and instantly turn on the TV just “for background noise.” You get in the car and immeditately tune-in your favorite radio station, or jack-in the iPod for a listen. Even sitting at your computer during work, talk radio or a podcast may be going on and on.
We don’t like silence. We don’t like solitude. We fill our lives with sound and community because that’s the way we were made. But the Scripture tells us to make room for solitude and silence as well. “Be still, and know that I am God!” Psalm 46:10. “A time to be silent and a time to speak.” Ecc. 3:7. “But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.” James 1:9. “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.” Is. 32:17.
Why should we seek times of solitude and silence?
1. As a follower of Christ, silence and solitude help you to follow the Lord’s example.
In Matt. 4:1, Jesus went alone into the wilderness for a time of fasting and solitude before He began His ministry. In Matt. 14:12, He spent some time alone after ministering to a large crowd. In Mark 1:35, Jesus knows that to have time alone, He’s got to get up early and get out before everyone wakes up. In Luke 4:42, you see Jesus working hard to get away from the crowd, the very people who needed Him. He didn’t seem to think it wrong or unreasonable to desire some private time.
2. We need silence and solitude to hear God better.
How many times have you said something like, “I just wish I could ‘hear’ God better?” It may be that we’ve got so many distractions and noise around us that we could not hear Him if He did want to speak to us. We may have the volume of life turned up so loud that God refuses to shout over it. Like Elijah on Mt. Carmel after his showdown with the prophets of Baal, he went away to rest. God ministers to Him, but the story tells us a thunderstorm came, but God was not speaking through it; an earthquake came, but God was not to be heard in it; a firestorm came, but God was not found within. Finally, God’s voice came to Elijah in that “still, small voice.” Like a laser beam right to the heart of Elijah, when all the distractions and noise were gone, the prophet heard God clearly.
3. Silence and solitude are expressions of worship.
Worship does not always have words or sounds. Sometimes worship is simply a God-focused stillness. Hab. 2:20 says, “But the Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.” Zeph. 1:7 says, “Be silent before the Sovereign Lord.”
4. Solitude and silence express faith in God.
Psalm 62:1-2 tells us, “My soul waits in silence for God only, from Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.” Is. 30:15b relates, “In repentance and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.”
Remember when Jesus was arrested and about to be crucified? When he stood before Pilate and the Sanhedrin, there were times He did not answer. Peter reflected on this years later in 1 Peter 2:23. “and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.” His silence was a sign of strength and trust.
5. Solitude helps you be physically restored.
Everyone has a need to restore energy and resources. Even for Jesus and His closest followers, there was a need for rest and restoration. Mark 6:31 says, “come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” And wasn’t there even this time that God Himself, who is Omnipotent and needs no rest, took some time off. Oh yeah, it was called the Sabbath. Unfortunately, those who tried to be legalistic about the Law took it too far, but don’t forget the heart of the Sabbath. Take the time to rest, refresh, recalibrate and renew your heart and mind in relation with God. Free yourself regularly from the noise and business and hurry of life and draw near to God in silence and solitude.
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