5 Benefits of Solitude and Silence
02/28/2018 ..
Does spending time alone scare you? You aren’t alone! Time Magazine reports most participants in a scientific study would rather give themselves mild electric shocks than spend 15 minutes alone with their thoughts. Since most adults spend half their waking hours looking at one screen or another, and due to the everyday hustle and bustle of our lives, we need to make the time for solitude. For some of us, that might require an appointment in our calendar, for others a special time set apart every day.
Scriptural solitude is the practice of withdrawing temporarily from the world for spiritual purposes. Those who seek it will find a beautiful portal through which God’s voice of love can be heard in a world that drowns it out. Silence gives God a magnificent canvas upon which he can his display his glory and build a beautiful story for our lives.
In moments of solitude and quiet, there are five things we need to do in order to reap the benefits:
We need to hear from God. God will not shout above the din of our lives. By spending time alone with him, we hear his voice and get to know God more deeply. The One who created us and loves us beyond our understanding will speak directly to us. One reason we don’t hear from God is because we never stop long enough to listen! How are we going to hear the still small voice of God if we are always talking?
We need to surrender before God. What better way to surrender our lives to God than to close our mouths and open our ears? When Christ appeared before his accusers and Pontius Pilate, he surrendered to God’s will by remaining silent, knowing that also meant submitting to an excruciating death on the cross as an atonement for our sins. During our moments alone with God, we can present ourselves to him and ask him honestly, “Lord, how can you use me today?”
We need to disconnect from the world and connect with ourselves. It allows us to get rid of all the things propping up our lives. In our aloneness, we withdraw from our inner compulsions, from the expectations of others and from our addiction to our own thoughts and words. We learn to face ourselves and with God’s help become aware of our bad habits, loneliness, hurts and brokenness.
We can ask for forgiveness and begin anew again. Silence and solitude allows us to be honest before God, who loves us unconditionally. Asking for forgiveness, frees us to accept his help to grow into the person he wants us to become. We gain confidence he will accompany us on the journey. Our God is for us, with us and in us; he will give us the guidance and wisdom to make virtuous decisions.
We need to grow more in love with God. When you are in love with someone, you spend time throughout the day thinking about them. Time alone with God each day helps us grow more in love with him. It empowers us to be more conscious of God’s presence as we go about our day. We build trust, attentiveness and a greater responsiveness to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Every person who has ever been effective in service for God developed this habit. Elijah, Moses and Paul, and even Jesus, to name a few, relied on the practice of solitude to strengthen them for the chaos in their lives. In solitude we learn: we don’t have to be strong, God is strong. We don’t have to know the way ahead, God does. All we need to do is hold on to God because he is holding on to us.
God said, “Be still and know that I am God.” Despite his request, solitude with God won’t occur without intentionality. It is a pursuit worth doing. When will you begin?