Training Camp…Developing the Disciplines

Silence and Solitude

Mark 6:31

Hang on. We’re going to do things a little different this morning.

“NO!”

Yeah, really, I know you guys are used to us doing the same thing every week, even, “religiously,” but today we’re going to change things around a bit.

As we start this morning, I’m going to give you a gift…

Paul Harvey told a story a few years ago about a church on the East coast that wanted to do some out of the box efforts to get people to come to church, so they took out a full-page ad in the local paper, and announced that they understood that everyone’s time was valuable to them, so they were going to pay everyone $10 an hour for coming to church – as people walked in the door, they were handed a ten dollar bill.

Well, no such luck for you this morning!

Actually, I want to give you a gift that I believe can be much more valuable – and it is something that I would guess most of us have not had for years – if ever.

For the next 5 minutes, with the lights down, we are going to have silence. That’s my gift to you – five minutes of silence…no music lightly playing in the background – just silence. Sit back in your seats; get as comfortable as you can, close your eyes. I’m going to ask you not to speak, not to get up and move out of the room – just experience the silence. We start now, with these words from the prophet Habakkuk:

“The Lord is in His Holy Temple, Let all the earth keep silence before Him…”

[Five minutes of silence – this is an incredibly uncomfortable experience for most people – they feel all sorts of pressures – thoughts of things to do, or wasted time, or criticisms float to the surface – they can’t believe how long it takes - that is supposed to happen!]

Ok, that’s five minutes.

That was hard, wasn’t it? It’s uncomfortable for many of us to be in a place of silence. We live in a world of technology and information where it is nearly impossible to find a place of silence and solitude, and when we do, it is very uncomfortable. We have become addicted to amusement, words, music, advertising, noise, alarms and voices. We have the television on in our houses when no one is watching, just to provide background noise. We actually manufacture and sell little machines that produce what is called “white noise” so that we can sleep.

Today, as we continue our discussion of the Spiritual Disciplines, we are looking at two that are so closely joined that they can’t really be separated – Solitude and Silence. We have said that the Spiritual Disciplines are the steps that God has left for me to do before He can do what only He can do. These are habits and practices that I need to develop in my life so that God can bring the growth and maturity to my life that He desires. We’ve talked about meditation and fasting, and prayer, and study and simplicity. Today we are examining the discipline of silence and solitude. And it is a very difficult discipline to pursue. In fact, silence and solitude, I have found, is more difficult that fasting!

Silence requires patience and waiting – and patience and waiting make us uncomfortable. It seems like such a waste of time to be silent – it seems “unproductive.” So we do all we can to cram any waking (or even sleeping) second with something to fill the silence and to keep us from feeling alone.[i]

It seems that every part of our lives is packed with words – words that are important, words that are trivial – some words that are urgent and some that are hurtful. We have words that have little meaning at all, some that mean everything to us. And of course, in order to get their words heard, everyone wants to package their words in a way that sounds compelling to our ears. The weather is filled with “First Alerts,” “Storm Centers,” and every time a Low Pressure crosses the Rocky Mountains it’s going to be the “Blizzard of the Century!”

In the news it’s no better – Every story is the story of the Century – with wall to wall coverage -it’s all hype – from the news, to the weather to the advertising.

In the midst of so many words, all packaged as urgent and requiring immediate attention, we have all developed the ability to scan, access and categorize with amazing speed. To get through the flood of information and words that are coming at us we have learned to mentally skim and scan the material. We look for bullet points and bold print. We ask for summaries. We urge people to be brief and to cut to the chase. Then, when we think they aren’t saying anything significant, we simply block out their words and start focusing on the words that are floating around in our brains. We nod our heads, look at them, and are thinking about what we will make for dinner tonight. Some of you are doing that right now, aren’t you??!!

This skill we learned of glancing at words and people has made its way into our relationship with God. We want someone to give us the condensed version of God’s message, instead of listening to it ourselves. We want short, memorable sermons what will entertain us. We want someone to give us challenging words that we can listen to, along with all the other words that compete for our attention, and then categorize those words with all the others – usually in the realm of the forgotten.

Is it possible that what we need is not more words, but more time alone with God? 

So many people come to me and say, “Why won’t God speak to me? Why doesn’t He tell me what to do?” One of the problems may be that we are not listening! To the Psalmist God said, “Be still and know that I am God.” Is it possible that we can’t know God’s presence, or the reality of Who He is – unless we are still – quiet? When God spoke to Elijah, there was first a roaring wind, but the Lord was not in the wind. Then there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, then fire – but God was not in the fire, “Then after the fire came a gentle whisper…” It was then that God spoke to Elijah. God is God and He will not compete with the noise of our world. If we want to hear Him then we need to switch off the noise of the world and listen!

I think that one of the worst things that ever happened to the car was when they installed radios in them. Seriously – and I say this as a person who turns the radio on as soon as the engine is running, (and sometimes when it isn’t!). It used to be that when families got in the car, they sang silly songs, or told stories to each other, or dad shared some interesting thing that he knew from his experience or pointed out some landmark. But now when families travel we each have our own radio, and our cell phone, plus a game system, and a personal video player. When that happened, the final cocoon of family intimacy – everyone together in a small area for a prolonged period of time – was destroyed. We still get to the destination, but no one spends any time together.

The same thing has happened in our Christian lives. We are all headed for a wonderful destination, but we have no intimacy with our Father along the way.

In the midst of this rushed and hurried pace, there is a consistent call from the word of God for us to “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Those words of invitation from Jesus are found in Mark 6:31. It was a very busy and hectic time for the followers of Jesus. Earlier in this same chapter, he had sent them out, two by two, to the surrounding villages to bring the news of God’s love, and call people to turn back to God. They went into the villages and had power to cast out demons and heal the sick, and they boldly proclaimed the love of God.

When they returned, a huge crowd gathered, which was great – but Jesus knew that they needed balance – they had a job to do, but they also needed times of rest and renewal – so He invited them to come away with him to a quiet place and get some rest.  Verse 32 says, “so they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.”

This balance of silence and solitude is found throughout Scripture. From Habakkuk’s call to worship that I quoted earlier, to Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 5:2, 

Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

In Jesus life, we see it many times. In Mark 1:35, we read, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.” In
Luke 6:12 we read that Jesus went off into the hills to pray, and prayed all night, before choosing the 12 Apostles. In both Luke’s and Matthew’s biographies of Jesus, we find that He was “led by the Spirit to solitude of the desert.” In fact, Luke 5:16 says, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” He sought solitude – time alone with God.

Silence and solitude are inseparable. Without silence, you will not have solitude, and without solitude it is impossible to have silence. If there is anyone else around, you will not have the kind of silence you need.

And we all need this! We need to convince ourselves that the world really will keep going on without us for an hour - or a day. We really don’t need to respond to every word and request that comes our way. You really don’t have to answer your cell phone every time it rings! The discipline of silence invites us to leave behind the competition of this world for our attention, and give that time to Jesus. Silence offers us a way of paying attention to the Spirit of God and recognizing what He brings to the surface in those moments of stillness.

When we are in silence and solitude, we will notice things that we might rather not notice. Feelings might come to the surface – that’s why it was so uncomfortable for us to sit here even for those five minutes earlier. Little bubbles of sadness or anger or loneliness or impatience begin to rise to the surface. We begin to recognize just how much our own agenda is more important to us than being with God in solitude. And then, when we sit there, and nothing is happening, we get frustrated and impatient, and convince ourselves that we are just wasting time. But you know what? Every one of those emotions and thoughts is an invitation to pray and draw closer to the Lord. As they rise, pray over them, and give them to God. When I feel sadness, or loneliness – consider the source of it, and ask God to bring healing. When I am impatient, ask Him to calm my spirit and let me know His presence. 

We want this to be practical, so here are a few suggestions for practicing silence and solitude:

1. Make a conscious effort to reduce the background noise – turn off the radio when you are alone in the car, in your office or at home alone. Take note of the things that come to your mind when you are in a quiet place. Write them down.
2. Set aside some period of time when you can get away alone in silence. Even if it’s just 10 minutes – set a timer if you want – that way you won’t find yourself worrying about how long it’s been. Open yourself to the presence of God, simply say, “Here am I, Lord.”
3. Determine that some times when you are alone will be focused on the Lord. Like time spent driving alone – or washing dishes over a sink of warm water, or taking a long run. Instead of filling those times with “white noise,” offer them to the Lord.
4. Make your shower a place of solitude with the Lord. Present yourself to your Creator. Allow the act of washing your body remind you to confess and be cleansed of all unrighteousness. Allow the water to remind you of that Jesus gives living water. Let the warmth of the water remind you of His love. Take advantage of one of the few times in your day that you can call your own – and be alone with God in it.
5. As you are able, find a way to set aside longer times alone with the Lord. Take a morning and go to a park, or come to the downtown building and go up to the Loft, or to the Mezzanine, or even the Nursery and spend an hour or several hours alone with the Lord. Don’t try it at home – too many distractions – get away with your Bible and a journal or pad of paper. As you go, recite the words of Jesus, “Come away with me, by yourself, to a quiet place, and get some rest.”

As you quietly offer your body to God, you will begin to hear Him better. You don’t need to do anything. This is not a time for coming up with new strategies for work or life. Silence is simply a time to rest in God. Rest in Him, trust that being with Him in silence will help you escape the tyranny of the world’s words. Silence and solitude will not solve your life – but it will shape your life. Listen to the Holy Spirit. Is Christ calling you to “come away” with Him?

Prayer