Silence, Solitude, and Sustenance (part 1/2)

We can’t live in the Kingdom of God with hurried souls. It’s simply not how we are created to function. Time, though fleeting, is a gift from God that we arrogantly assume is ours to control. Rest is also a gift from God, one that we often times seem to forget exists. Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Satan wants us to live a life so fast paced and busy that we “don’t have the time” to stop, rest, and sit with God. The enemy wants to distract us, and western culture plays right into his schemes. C.S. Lewis once said that “hurry is the death of prayer”, and after stepping out of a fast paced culture and into one that intentionally practices silence and solitude, I can attest to that. When we have too much on our plates and in our heads, there’s no room to be made to allow Christ to speak to us, through us, and over us. It gets hard to hear Him over the noise of our to do lists and schedules. I don’t know everything about the way Jesus lived, but something tells me He didn’t have endless appointments and an unrealistic agenda of how much He wanted to get done. That’s not to say He didn’t have plans and things He wanted or needed to do, but He lived a life totally in tune with the Spirit of His Father, so He lived out a pace of peace in all that He did. He took time to go out into nature and refuel His Spirit through time with God. He prioritized alone time and solitude, even when others were demanding His presence and time. He prayed constantly and consistently, leaving the most room for God to speak to Him throughout the day and guide Him. Rest, silence, and solitude. These are all spiritual disciplines Jesus practiced that sustained Him through the exhaustion of His human limitations. Sitting in the Lord’s presence and giving your time to Him, letting Him replace your agenda with His not only brings Him great delight, but it also brings us great energy and restoration. God loves quality time with His children. He longs for us to put aside our schedules to sit and contemplate His glory with an unveiled face and an undistracted mind. He wants all of our adoration and attention. And to give Him that is in turn far more restful than anything the world can offer.

stay tuned for another blog about how to rest…