Ancient Practices | Part 1: Silence and Solitude
This week, we are going to discover three ancient practices of connecting with God. The question I get asked most often is how do I hear from God? This week, I hope to give you some ways in which I have learned to dial up His voice in my life.
The first is the title of this devotion: Silence and Solitude
Let’s look at the most spiritual person to ever walk the earth. That’s right, the best place to start is Jesus.
“Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.” – Mark 1:35 NLT
Recently, during my quiet time, I came to the realization that it is often hard for me to get into a quiet place, both in life and within my own mind. We live in a culture where everything is anything but quiet. And yet, silence and solitude are essential for hearing God’s voice.
I recently shared a message titled “No Mixture.” In it, I talked about one of the most dangerous things we face: the mixture of our soul with His Spirit. When our emotions, opinions, and desires get mixed in, it becomes hard to discern what’s truly from Him.
The Bible speaks to this in many ways, but one of my favorite examples is found in 1 Kings.
““Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””– 1 Kings 19:11-13 NLT
I believe God whispers more than He yells. In fact, I think this is the way God speaks most often. If your relationship with God is built on yelling, it may be worth asking if you truly know His nature. God rarely yells, which is why it’s hard to hear Him in a loud culture, without the discipline of silence and solitude.
The whisper of God is heard in the quiet, in the stillness, in the desert, and in solitude. Going back to our first passage of the day, Jesus understood that. Even though He was the Son of God and Savior of the world, He understood the need to get up and get alone with God. We don’t know what was said, and that really wasn’t the point. It was time spent without distraction and before business. He was alone with God.
I would rather invite God into my day than ask Him to rescue it after I jacked it up!
I’ve had people tell me, “Aaron, I’m just not a morning person.” I get it. We have a lot going on, and we like our sleep. But can I be honest? If He isn’t worth getting up to meet with early then it says a lot about how much you know Him. I don’t mean that negatively, but reality is our friend.
Silence and solitude probably used to be easier, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t practice it today. In fact, it probably means we must practice it today to remain connected to Him.
Jesus got up early. He found a quiet place. He prayed. Seems like a good idea to me.
The first is the title of this devotion: Silence and Solitude
Let’s look at the most spiritual person to ever walk the earth. That’s right, the best place to start is Jesus.
“Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.” – Mark 1:35 NLT
Recently, during my quiet time, I came to the realization that it is often hard for me to get into a quiet place, both in life and within my own mind. We live in a culture where everything is anything but quiet. And yet, silence and solitude are essential for hearing God’s voice.
I recently shared a message titled “No Mixture.” In it, I talked about one of the most dangerous things we face: the mixture of our soul with His Spirit. When our emotions, opinions, and desires get mixed in, it becomes hard to discern what’s truly from Him.
The Bible speaks to this in many ways, but one of my favorite examples is found in 1 Kings.
““Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””– 1 Kings 19:11-13 NLT
I believe God whispers more than He yells. In fact, I think this is the way God speaks most often. If your relationship with God is built on yelling, it may be worth asking if you truly know His nature. God rarely yells, which is why it’s hard to hear Him in a loud culture, without the discipline of silence and solitude.
The whisper of God is heard in the quiet, in the stillness, in the desert, and in solitude. Going back to our first passage of the day, Jesus understood that. Even though He was the Son of God and Savior of the world, He understood the need to get up and get alone with God. We don’t know what was said, and that really wasn’t the point. It was time spent without distraction and before business. He was alone with God.
I would rather invite God into my day than ask Him to rescue it after I jacked it up!
I’ve had people tell me, “Aaron, I’m just not a morning person.” I get it. We have a lot going on, and we like our sleep. But can I be honest? If He isn’t worth getting up to meet with early then it says a lot about how much you know Him. I don’t mean that negatively, but reality is our friend.
Silence and solitude probably used to be easier, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t practice it today. In fact, it probably means we must practice it today to remain connected to Him.
Jesus got up early. He found a quiet place. He prayed. Seems like a good idea to me.
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1 Comment
For most people in this world, including me. I see that when we have difficulty, succeeding at something. Be at building a house, helping the company we work for move forward. Or how to deal with our siblings. We take the time to think without distraction. So when we want to be part of the Trinity. Why wouldn’t we want to. Be in a place, that allows us to think clearly. We are retreating inside our head. To decipher what is truth. So it would only stand to reason. Aaron, that as you have identified a quiet and solitude place. So that we can do as what we refer to as. Gathering our thoughts. Thank you so much for your perspective.