Do you ever have trouble hearing the still, small whisper of God’s voice? Maybe your life, your head, your mind is just so full of life’s distractions, things constantly running through your head. You can’t get away from distractions long enough to hear what God is saying to you. You might need silence and solitude, a practice that has been around for as long as Jesus was walking this earth and teaching his disciples, he often withdrew from the crowd so that he could be alone with God. That’s what silence and solitude is all about.
To simply get away.
Remove all the distractions and be with God. You need to forget about time for a little bit. You need to be able to get away from the distractions. Set a timer on your phone, set it off to the side.
Don’t check the clock and just sit and be with God. Take all of your thoughts captive. We find that whenever we’re alone with just our thoughts, things start to pop up that we kind of like to push away. Maybe some hard thoughts, some difficult feelings. Let those come through.
Consider them. Pray about them. Bring everything and all that you are to God in this time. Can you do that? Can you be okay with it just being you and God?
I think we are addicted to the distraction, to the hurried life, to wanting to get to the next thing, to be with people, to be doing all that we can. But silence and solitude is the exact opposite of that. Are you okay with sitting down and not accomplishing something? Are you okay sitting with the fact that you are beloved by God, even if you don’t accomplish a task, even if you aren’t doing something for him? Are you okay with just being with him?
You are beloved by God, and you don’t have to do anything for that to be true. Silence and solitude is the perfect place for you to sit with God, distractions aside, and realize that you are truly beloved. Whether or not you get anything done, it may be difficult. It will be hard for most of us. And I think silence and solitude is the key to hearing what God has for our life.