Day 4: Encounter With God

All the saints and sages of Christian history say in chorus: Solitude is a foundational practice for the spiritual life. No matter your personality or your stage of life, solitude, silence, and stillness hold a raw power for transformation that few other disciplines do. Because, in solitude, we encounter God.

Over the last two days, we made the point that solitude is the place of encounter. First, an encounter with our self. Second, an encounter with our enemy. And now we’re ready for the final and most important encounter of all — an encounter with our God

In Mark 1, we read yet another story of Jesus in the eremos. In context, Jesus is coming off a marathon day of teaching in the synagogue, healing the sick, and casting out demons. But instead of resting, “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.” While everyone else is sleeping, Jesus goes into solitude to pray.

“Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: ‘Everyone is looking for you!’ Jesus replied, ‘Let us go somewhere else — to the nearby villages — so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.’ So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.”

In this story, you see Jesus’ pattern of retreat and return. He goes into solitude to encounter God, and then he comes back. And you see that he comes back with this heightened sense of clarity around his identity—his sense of self, who he is, and his calling, what he is meant to do next.

When we encounter God in solitude, like Jesus, we often emerge with a clearer vision of our identity and calling. We all live from an identity or a sense of self. Much is said about the “true self” in our culture, but through a Christian lens, we don’t discover our true self by seeking it but by seeking God. When we go into solitude, we encounter God’s love and hear his voice over our identity. As a result, we realize we’re not what other people say or think about us and come away with a new clarity on who we are in God.

And when we encounter God’s love, we then feel safe enough to surrender to God and his direction over our lives. And then we are inevitably sent by God back out. And we come back with a new clarity of purpose around our calling. This is what I’m meant to do and not do. So that we can say yes to God’s call on our life, but also so we can say no to all the other calls on our life.

But we need to learn to wait on God and listen for his voice.

This process of encounter often takes way longer than we prefer. We’ve been so formed by our culture of speed — 5G, WiFi, and order on Amazon, and it’s on your door a few hours later — but the spiritual life has its own pace, and it’s slow. Much of it is spent waiting and listening.

If listening prayer is new to you, it’s very simple. Our friend Dr. Aila Tasse from Kenya says there are three keys to listening prayer: “A quiet place, quiet time, and a quiet heart.”

A quiet place — find a distraction-free zone.

A quiet time — one of the best catchphrases to ever come out of the evangelical tradition.

And a quiet heart — our heart is full of noise! An hour spent in silence may be the noisiest hour of your life. All sorts of distractions come up. You let them come, but then you let them go. You still your mind before God.

Then, you just open your mind to God.

And our invitation to you is not just to experiment with solitude for a few weeks but to incorporate this practice into your Rule of Life. By this, I mean to incorporate it into your life architecture of apprenticeship to Jesus.

To find a daily place for solitude, even if it’s just ten minutes when you wake up or before you go to bed.

To find a weekly place for solitude. Maybe you spend a longer chunk of time in the quiet on your Sabbath or day off.

To find a monthly or seasonal place for solitude to discover the practice of retreat.

But also to begin to “de-noise” all of your life. The Apostle Paul said to the Thessalonians, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.” You will likely find this as you follow Jesus; you crave quiet more and more because you crave God.

God is waiting for you outside the noise, the crowds of people, the hurry of city life, and all the distractions of our time. Do you desire to encounter God? Then say yes to Jesus’ invitation to solitude, silence, and stillness, and follow him into the quiet.