God With UsSample

Practicing the “With-ness” of Solitude

The anechoic chamber at Orfield Laboratories in Minnesota is the quietest place on Earth, measuring -24.9 dBA, below the threshold of human hearing.

The chamber is designed to absorb sound, lacking echoes and background noise, making it challenging to orient oneself. Companies use the space to test products, offering visitors a unique experience with sessions and tours to explore its acoustics. Visitors experience extreme silence, often hearing their bodily sounds like blood pumping and even eyelids shutting. Such extreme silence can be disorienting without the normal sounds of everyday life, making it difficult even to stand.

While this type of silence may be extreme, sadly, any silence can be somewhat disorienting in our overextended, overcomplicated, busy lives. The constant noise of technology, news, and social media can erode the essential practices of silence and solitude necessary for hearing and knowing God.

Henry Nouwen notes that solitude “…is the place where God reveals himself as God-with-us, as the God who is our creator, redeemer, and sanctifier, as the God who is the source, the center and the purpose of our existence, as the God who wants to give himself to us with an unconditional, unlimited, and unrestrained love, and as the God who wants to be loved by us with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. In solitude, we meet God.”[1]

In the Christmas story, solitude is punctuated by the silent night of the shepherds tending flocks (Luke 2:8), the angelic pronouncement of peace on earth (Luke 2:14), and Mary’s quiet reflection on all these things in her heart (Luke 2:19).

The Prince of Peace modeled time alone with His Father. Luke records that “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16 NIV). The quiet space of the wilderness regularly became His sacred space to escape the noise and frenzy of ministry, be alone with His Father, refresh His soul, and recharge for the mission.

If the Son of God needed quiet space in His life, how much more do we, as men?

God’s “with-ness” will only be realized if we make space for silence and solitude, some margin in our lives where we can hear and experience Him anew.

This Advent season, let’s allow the disorientation of silence to reorient us to the God who is with us.

Prayer: Lord, help me to make space in my life for quiet times with You. As I quiet my heart, would You reveal Your nearness and Yourself to me so I may know You more? Amen.

Reflection: Consider how you might create some quiet and margin in your life. Maybe shut off your phone, shut out the news, or shut down your schedule for a time to find a quiet place to focus and listen to the voice of your heavenly Father.

[1] Henri Nouwen. Clowning in Rome: Reflections on Solitude, Celibacy, Prayer, and Contemplation. 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Image Books, 1979, p. 27-28.