SILENCE AND SOLITUDE
Mark 1:35
35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
1. Defining Silence And Solitude
1) Silence
- The discipline of silence is the voluntary and temporary abstention from
- Silence is about not talking, not speaking, so that we can focus on God, God’s Word, God’s voice, etc.
2) Solitude
Solitude is the spiritual discipline of voluntarily and temporarily withdrawing to
Solitude brings a forum for silence, both outward and inward (the voice of self, the voices of others, the noises of the world). The period of solitude may last only a few minutes or for days. As with silence, solitude may be sought in order to participate without interruption in other spiritual disciplines, or just to be alone with God.
Think of silence and solitude as complementary disciplines to
- Without silence and solitude we’re going to have the tendency to grow shallow in our Christian experience. Without fellowship we’re going to have the tendency to grow stagnant.
- Balance requires them all. We don’t want depth at the expense of fellowshipping with others. And we don’t want vibrancy with people at the expense of growing deeper with God. We need balance.
2. Exercising Silence And Solitude
- Why should we exercise the silence and solitude?
1) To follow the
2) To
One of the more obvious reasons for getting away from earthly noise and human voices is to hear God speak to our souls.
Is it possible that all the noises of life that come as a part of our culture have contributed to the
3) To express
- It is true that we are to make a joyful noise before the Lord. We worship God with the singing of praise. But, we can indeed worship God without making a sound.
4) To express
5) To seek the
6) To seek the
Do you have any major decisions? Do you have anything that is pressing down on you? Do you have any circumstances of life in which you need to know the will of God? Then get alone with God.
God often makes His will clear to us in public (i.e. there are many things about God’s will that is made perfectly clear through the exhortation of Scripture), but there are times when He discloses His will to you only in private. To discover it requires the disciplines of silence and solitude.
Application:
1) Set a daily quiet time.
- Our days are usually filled with more than enough noise, plenty of hurry, and demanding people. Unless we plan for daily times of solitary silence before God, these other things will rush in to fill our time like water into the Titanic.
2) Consecrate the occasional “minute retreats” each day for silence and solitude.
Donald Whitney – Take advantage of being in line at the bank, or waiting at the stop light, or while you’re on hold on the phone, alone on the elevator, etc. to cast your thoughts and focus upon God.
Use these times to come to God in prayer, to worship Him, to focus on Him.
3) Perhaps get away for a few extended (half-day to overnight or longer) times yearly.
4) Get away to a special place that is where you seek to be alone with God - a walk in the woods, or field, or maybe a park, your neighborhood street, or lake, a place in nature where you just get away and spend time with God.
- It doesn’t have to be 40 days in the wilderness, maybe just 40 minutes in the storage room at work. The point is to find a place of solitude, a place where you meet with God. God told the Jews that I will meet with you where my name is written.
- Do you have place where you’ve written the name of God, a place that you’ve consecrated so that you can meet with Him?