The Spiritual Discipline of Solitude

Solitude

The glory of God is the manifestation of God’s presence, power, and goodness on the earth in a visible way, i.e., fire, cloud, light, healing, deliverance, etc. (Exodus 13:21, 22; 2 Chronicles 5:14; Luke 5:17; 11:20; John 11:40-44; Acts 2:3; Acts 9:3).

Jesus was God’s glory manifested in the earth when He was here, the Lord of glory (Luke 9:32; John 1:14; 2:11; 17:1-5; 22, 24; Colossians 1:27; Hebrews 1:3; 2 Peter 1:17). Now that Jesus is in heaven at the Father’s right hand, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit was sent to manifest God’s glory in the earth (Acts 2:17; 1 Peter 4:14). It is the Holy Spirit’s presence when you sense changes to the glory’s environment or atmosphere.

The powerful result of the Master’s ministry on earth was Him calling us into the intimacy of discipleship!

All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. 

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:27-30

The central purpose of this blog post is to discover one of the most intimate ways in which a faithful follower of the Master, may experience God throughout their often lonely journey. This transformative way is by encountering His Spirit with the spiritual discipline of solitude and silence.

Jesus calls us from Loneliness to Solitude.

Save me, O God!

For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters where the floods overflow me.

I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God. Psalms 69

God has invited ways that He calls us, as disciples of Christ to Himself. External and internal distractions that all of us encounter throughout our lives are (as many teachers of spiritual formation contend) some of the major enemies of Christlike character formation for the Believers. A.W. Tozer contends that complacency also is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth.

Each of us is never alone, even when we feel or experience loneliness. Loneliness is a heavy burden to carry; people can feel alone even when they are surrounded by people.

This Psalms 69:1-12 signifies David’s loneliness that was so overburdened that he felt like a stranger in his own home.

The wonderful good news is that David found out that despite his perceived loneliness, he had God in the situations of his life. Like David, Immanuel is with us!

Isaiah 41:10

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Note: The Right hand of God is a metaphor for the ever-powerful God, as the Right side of God is to be identified as being in the special place of honor.

God promises even in our fears, that He will always hold His people close to Him- “I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrew 13:5

Our Lord and Savior called us His followers, His friends, John 15:15, thus as we abide in Christ, we are never alone.

Emotional feelings of loneliness can be helpful and overcome for God’s children. For one of the major blessings of the discipline of solitude, God wishes to replace loneliness with solitude. [ Psalms 69:1-12, and Isaiah 41:10 commentary and profile of David was taken from The Soul Care Bible: Experiencing and Sharing Hope God’s Way, Tim Clinton]

Definitions

Solitude- A place alone with God in the desolate place of silence.

The spiritual calling and gift of solitude are more of a state of mind and heart than an actual physical place. Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

This blessing of solitude over time will enable us to construct an inward portable sanctuary within our hearts. [Heart, mind, will, or spirit, is the executive center of all of our human life].

Note

Without silence, there is no solitude. The purpose of silence and solitude is to teach us to be able to see and hear God with our spiritual eyes and ears!

The Master’s examples

These are just a few of many examples of Jesus practicing solitude and silence in His ministry.

  • At the start of His ministry- 40 days alone in the desert Matt.4:1-11.
  • Prior to His selection of the initial twelve disciples, Luke 6:12.
  • He withdrew to a boat to grieve the death of John the Baptist. His words about John, “Truly I tell you, among those born of woman there have not raised anyone greater than John. Matt. 11:11
  • After feeding five-thousands, “Went up into the hills by Himself. Matt. 14:23
  • As He prepared for His highest and most important ministry, Jesus sought the solitude of the Garden of Gethsemane. Matt. 26:36-46

God’s concern about the eradication of various idols within our hearts is better revealed to us by God than by others. It is during our intimate time alone with Him, I believe that as God reveals with love those things [idols] that have denied, blocked, restricts our intimacy with Him will be accepted better by us as the reformative changes will come about under the spiritual direction of the Holy Spirit. “You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and the greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:37-39

Another blessing that solitude and silence teach a faithful follower of the Master is to tame the tongue.

According to Matt. 12:36, the spiritual discipline of solitude and silence can save your soul: “every idle word that comes from our heart, we will give an account of in the judgment”.

Idle Talk

  • Excessive talk opens the door to sin-Proverbs 10:19
  • Whoever guards their mouth preserves their life, but they who opens wide their lips shall have destruction. Proverbs 13:3
  • Excessive talk fuels gossip [evil speech, Lashon Hara]
  • Excessive talk is the enemy of Listening, Proverbs 18:13
  • Excessive talk feeds boasting, Proverbs 20:6

Excessive talk leads to profanity and ultimately, it leads to the destruction of the character of the person.

The Dark Night of the Soul

Who among you fears [reverence] the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant, who walks in darkness and has no light yet trusts [faith] in the name of the Lord and relies upon His God? Isaiah 50:10

The deeper benefits of the discipline of solitude like all of our spiritual disciplines are not commandments, nor rules that you and I must do.

No, they are additional spiritual tools that God blesses us to bring us spiritual maturity in all things. Just as we can learn by submitting to fasting, solitude and silence reveal that we are greater than “just physical,” if we faithfully commit to this discipline, God will expose the deeper physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual deficiencies within our lives, that He purposes to free us from.

  1. We who are called and have learned to center everything we experience in Christ, as the above scripture says, Christ will call His servant into a deeper stripping away of our overdependence of our emotional life. God wish to strip away any dangerous interference of “self-life” within our hearts, while replacing it with His life within our hearts.
  2. Ye I walk through the valley and the shadow of death, I will not fear any evil, for Thou art with me. Psalms 23. The “valley-of-the-shadow-of-death, is a symbolic description of the fallen world. The meaning of darkness/death is symbolic valleys on earth that we all must walk through in our human experience.    

This matter of night of the soul is God’s divine way that He “shuts down” within our soul during this discipline of solitude, causing a “grave-like stillness within our lives, so that the continuation of inner transformation of our inner soul-care may continue. [This segment, “Dark Night of the Soul” was taken from Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth].

“For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness, is the One who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. 2 Corinthians 4:6-7

Our last portion deals with what are some of the steps to solitude.

  • You do not need to be completely physically isolated but the more you are, the better.
  • Remove all distractions. As we have learned in Dallas Willard’s book, [Renovation of the Heart] distractions are the greatest enemy of spiritual transformation.
  • Intentionally consecrate this time of solitude.
  • Attempt to practice silence/solitude daily.

What do you do during these times of solitude and silence?

  • Total absence of doing anything else during this consecrated time.
  • Reflection
  • Meditation
  • Study the Word as worship
  • Prayer/praise
  • Journaling
  • Self-examination

The above listing of the steps of solitude was gleaned from this link: https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/behavior/spiritual-disciplines-solitude-silence/

Here are some unspoken yet realities concerning solitude and silence.

  • We may learn just how much of our communication with others reveal our own need to explain or validate/justify ourselves to others.
  • We may learn about just how much of our time, our lives depend upon external stimuli as our escape from personal boredom.
  • We may learn just how much of our lives [being busy, always on the go], is our means of us not facing ourselves, or perhaps not knowing ourselves.
  • Last, this discipline may reveal that our busyness falsely fills our loneliness or feelings of inadequacies and insignificance.   

Some Closing Thoughts

The consistent mastery of the spiritual discipline of Solitude and silence will break the power of busyness, haste, isolation, and loneliness in the journey of the disciple of the Lord. Your understanding of the world and yourself is shaped by God’s perspective and not by yours.

You will find yourself, and God will find you in new spiritual and transformative ways. Silence also brings Sabbath to your soul. It completes solitude, for without it you cannot be alone. The discipline of solitude and silence allows the reality of God to stand during your lifetime commitment to your calling as a disciple of the Master. God does not ordinarily compete for our attention. In silence, we come to attend to our Creator most intimately, face to face!

  • Grace and Peace
    Brother Alonzo

Research material used for this blog post.

Holy Scriptures; The book, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, Richard J. Foster, and Renovation of the Heart, Dallas Willard. All other quotes were noted in the blog post. The contents of this blog post are my teaching notes for my students, Walking in The Messiah Discipleship Group, chapter 7, pages 96-109, The Discipline of Solitude in Foster’s book.