This is The Way – Devo Day 29

The Disciplines of Solitude and Silence

This was one of the surprise golden nuggets that I discovered while I was at seminary and went on two retreats to a Trappist monastery in southern Missouri. I’d like to say that I learned some amazing spiritual insights from the monks or that God revealed a cosmic mystery to me but what I found there was me. I can honestly say, “I didn’t know myself very well.” I know that sounds stupid for a man of 60 years but as I look back it’s the truth.

When it comes to personality traits (and I’ve taken a lot of those assessments over the years) I am an off-the-chart task-oriented guy. I truly love people but what I do is work. That’s why this discipline was really hard for me, at first, because it didn’t seem to get anything done. From the outside and at first glance, it is wasteful of time and I measure time by what can be done.

I’m so glad that Jesus told Martha to just chill (slow down and stop doing) and enjoy the moments with Him (John 12:1-8). These disciplines required me to recalibrate my thinking and my doing. I knew they were one of the hallmarks of monastic life for centuries and had yielded some of the greatest reflective devotions of the Scriptures and amazing insights into the human soul. I was willing to try – but doubtful that these disciplines had anything for me. I was wrong!

I knew I was a Martha, but in my heart, I wanted to be a Mary, content and satisfied to sit at the Master’s feet and focus on my relationship with Him. Now before all my “get-r-done” compadres roll their eyes and stop reading, this has nothing to do with sloth, wasting time, or being lazy. The recalibration that Jesus exposed is the need to prioritize. It is critically important for us to do what is most important. The product of our industry is not the most important thing to our Lord. After all, He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and totally dialed into His redemptive mission. Let’s face it, He doesn’t NEED us or what we can do. Fortunately, He has invited us to join Him and work with Him. And for us to succeed in that (which is what all us doers want) we need to know Him and His heart. That’s the foundation, all our doing must flow out of our being in an intimate relationship with Him. The default setting on me is to jump to doing. The Holy Spirit’s focus is ALWAYS on our being (our character, our heart, our thinking) and particularly on our relationship with Christ.

13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

John 16:13–15 (ESV)

The Discipline of Silence

Now before I start preaching a sermon, I better get back to the disciplines of solitude and silence. Upon my arrival at the monastery, I was shown to my “room”. The monk’s rooms are quite austere and their daily schedule extremely regimented. Everything had a time assigned to it, work, shower, meals, services, prayers (there were even prayer times throughout the night). I have been to modern prisons that in retrospect seemed posh and luxuriant in comparison. I reminded God of that when I got to my room and the fact that solitary confinement is a form of torture. He ignored my complaints and since there was no higher authority to complain to, I decided to make the best of it.

I learned a lot on those retreats but I want to focus here on the disciplines of solitude and silence. Monastery life is very, VERY different than modern American culture. After the room, the next thing I noticed is that there was no talking except at mealtime and if necessary for work. Very different for a person that is used to calling, texting, or emailing at a moment’s notice, immediate communication 24x7x365. It’s possible that some conversations between the monks would have to wait a day to start and might take several days to complete. It got so I really looked forward to the mealtimes for the conversation, not just the food.

I found myself thinking about and planning my communication. All because there was a limited amount of time and I felt like a four-year-old with a million questions. I had to prioritize. It made me think of the preciousness of my time with God. Not that He minds hearing about some of the mundane or inconsequential things that I fill my day with and it’s not like He is too busy to have time for me. I’m the limitation, so I need to be focused and intentional in our conversations. I also came to realize that I needed to allow time to hear from others because there is little value in a monologue (a one-sided conversation). That is so true with our time with God as well. If we use up all the time telling Him stuff that he already knows (and He even knows all our feelings), we don’t allow Him to speak to us. After all, what is more valuable, to say what’s on our mind or hear from the infinite, all-wise God? Sometimes we need to just shut-up and listen, especially with God. “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10 (ESV)

But silence is not just about not talking. Few of us truly experience silence in the din and bustle of modern life. Most people find it uncomfortable at first because we are addicted to the noise and audio stimulation. The discipline of silence calls us to not only restrict our vocal communication but to also take out the earbuds and seek out places of peace, quiet, and tranquility. Even as believers, we many times fill our “quiet-time” with worship music. It’s like we don’t know how to talk to God unless someone wrote it in a song or like we are afraid of being alone with Him. Don’t get me wrong, I love worshipping and we’ll talk in the days ahead about the discipline of worship. But the discipline of silence is a powerful way for us to communicate with God.

It’s interesting that when you stop verbalizing and position yourself in a quiet place you also begin to realize that your head is not a quiet place. Most people are somewhat aware of the constant conversation(s) going on in your head but when you are quiet in a quiet place, you realize that it is anything but quiet in there. Assuming that you do not have a multi-personality disorder, the first voice in your head is you. Then there is the Holy Spirit. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16 (ESV) And lastly, there is your enemy, Satan. That’s why it is critical to know the difference (who’s talking).

I quickly found out how easily my thoughts are derailed (squirrel!). It’s no wonder it takes me so long to gather my thoughts into a coherent form. I found that I had to really work at focusing. But, I’ve also learned that at times, especially when asking God to lead me in the creative process, I need to let my mind wander asking Him to focus and guide my thoughts to His ideas, His will, His purpose, His dream.

11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

1 Kings 19:11–12 (ESV)

But the biggest thing I learned through the discipline of silence is to quiet my voice in my head so that I can hear the still small voice of God speaking to me. I realized that if I wanted to hear Him, I needed to find ways to lean into Him and quiet myself. He loves me but His thoughts are beyond my thoughts and His ways beyond my ways (Isaiah 55:8)

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11:33–36 (ESV)

The Discipline of Solitude

Silence is the doorway of solitude and solitude is one of the most fundamental of spiritual disciplines. It moves us away, for a time, from the pleasures, lures, and aspirations of the world to spend time in the presence of God. In solitude we remove ourselves from normal life and the influence of people, to find the comfort of anonymity. For me, this is most easily done outdoors, in nature, away from the sights and sounds of human life. I have found this discipline to be the most life-giving and spirit refreshing. It is here that I discover an inner strength that comes from a vital dependence on God and His Word, times of reflection and renewal, and time to confront the inner patterns and forces in me that are alien to the life of Christ and off-mission to His work.

Even a casual look at the life of Jesus reveals that solitude was an indispensable practice in his life and in the lives of all the great mothers and fathers of the faith that have gone on before us. In the solitude of the wilderness, Jesus defeated his foe and prepared for his public ministry (Matthew 4:1-11). On the solitude of a mountain, Jesus prepared to select his disciples (Luke 6::12-13). Again alone on a mountain, Jesus refuels after teaching to the crowds spending time with His Father (Matthew 7:28-5:1, 14:23) In the solitude of the garden he prepared for the cross (Matthew 26:36-46). It is clear that the solitude that Jesus practiced transcends being alone. Whenever Jesus sought solitude it was to be with His Father not by himself. That should be our goal for solitude as well.

Extended times spent in solitude can be frightening at first and make you feel exposed since they remove our external props and force us to confront sinful and selfish attitudes and behaviors. But this is but the gate that leads us to the grace, forgiveness, and love of God. Alone with God moves us in the direction of becoming more Christ-like and stretches our heart to love and serve others. I have also found that adding solitude and silence to other spiritual disciplines increases their effectiveness (prayer, journaling, study, and meditation).

30The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.
31And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
32And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.

Mark 6:30–32 (ESV)

APPLICATION – QUESTIONS TO ANSWER

1. Have you ever practiced the discipline of silence? How did it feel? What results have you enjoyed?
2. If you’ve never tried the discipline of silence, how do you think your relationship with God could benefit? If so, when will you try it?
3. Have you ever practiced the discipline of solitude? If so, what was it like and how did it make you feel? What results have you enjoyed?
4. If you’ve never tried the discipline of solitude, how do you think your relationship with God could benefit? If so, when will you try it?

PRAY

Wrap up this section of the devotional by combining the Scriptures that we’ve focused on the last two days and your answers to the questions into a prayer. I’m pretty confident that He has been talking to you already so pray it back to Him – what you learned, what you decided, what you committed to, what you need his help with. Then, when you are done, make sure you wait silently, patiently, expectantly for God to speak to you. You might want to have a pad and pen handy to jot notes.

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