He Is Good | Mark 1:35-39 | The Practice of Silence & Solitude

Mark 1, 35 through 39, that's a teaching text for today.

Mark writes, 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.

Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed, Everyone is looking for you.

Jesus replied, Then let us go somewhere else to nearby villages, so I can preach there also.

That is why I have come.

And so he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Let's say this together.

This is the word of the Lord.

When I first started dating Rainey back in the early 2000s, I wanted to say the late 1900s, but it was later than that.

I loved her just, I mean, it makes sense, right?

Like I just loved her to death.

And she was not sure, for maybe still not sure.

But our first year of dating was long distance, uh, which was really hard for me because I wanted to, I just was the only relationship realistically to that point.

The first relationship I really wanted to work.

Every other relationship, I don't know, I don't care.

Honestly, you make my life difficult.

But this one, I was like, I need this to work.

I want this relationship to work so badly.

And so the first year she was in Chicago and I was here doing a long-distance relationship, and I just felt like here's what I need to do to make it work.

I just need to place myself in her life as much as I possibly can.

I need my presence in her life, whether it be through, it was like back in the day of AOL messaging.

Like if I'm like just in her inbox, if I I sent her a letter every single day in the mail, I was texting her all the time, I was calling her all the time.

I would like take eight-hour trips to Chicago, and she'd be like, this is really sweet, but I got stuff to do this weekend.

It's like, oh, it's fine, it's cool, I'll just drive all the way back.

And like I was just, you know, lovingly stalking her towards marriage.

Um, I just really, really, really wanted it to work.

Um, and what I thought was to get her to choose me, all I have to do is give her more of my presence in her life.

She will choose me if she has more of me.

If she's like, I'm the only person just constantly alive.

What it actually did was suffocate her and make her want to break up with me, which was not what I expected.

And super sad.

And so I like knew her class schedule, and I'd call her right after class.

I was like, hey, I know your class just, hey, what are you doing?

Where are you walking?

What are you doing?

You're going to get some eat?

What are you eating?

And it was like, dude, you're killing me.

You're killing me.

And I was just like crushing this thing that I wanted to thrive.

And uh so eventually she broke up with me, which was just the worst fight we've ever had in our entire lives.

No.

It was just, it was just really bad.

And um, she just said, basically, she was like, I need a month away from you.

I need a month away.

I was like, away?

Like, if I'm away from her, she's not gonna choose me.

But what ended up happening is during that month of being away from her, um, it actually gave her space to realize, like, oh, I actually miss him.

I have given her, I'd given her no time to miss me because I'm constantly in her life, and the space away, less of me, was actually better for our relationship than more of me in that regard.

And it led her to reach out to me instead of a month away.

Uh, she reached out to me two weeks into the month and was like, hey, I miss you.

And I was like, Thank you, God, there is a God.

He did rise from the grave.

Um, and uh, and so it was a huge turning point for our relationship because one, it shaped kind of our interactions moving forward to how to be in relationship with one another in a long-distance uh capacity.

Uh, but it was really interesting to me.

I was like, I thought more of me in your life would lead to the outcome that I wanted, and it actually turned out to be less of me in your life led to the thing that I actually wanted.

And I say all that because I believe that our natural reaction to the needs in our lives, we live in a culture where the natural reaction to the needs in your life is more.

I just need some more.

I need to get more, I need to do more, I need to input myself more, more, more, more, more, more.

And that will be the thing that will fill me or at least provide for me in some capacity.

And what I love about this particular passage is Jesus has spent all night healing folks, and that was last week that we talked about that.

This huge, huge night, and he needed something.

But instead of pursuing more of something, he actually pursued less.

And he went after silence and he went after solitude, and he wakes up super early in the morning just to get away from everything and not to go and be like, hey, does everybody really like me?

You feel good about what I did last night?

Let's talk to the disciples, let's get some more information up in here and let's see how I feel.

It wasn't that.

In order for him to receive what he needed, he had to pursue less, not more.

And in that space, he was actually helped in many ways.

Um so what I want to do today is look at three ways that this practice of Jesus, of pursuing the silence and solitude away from everything.

I want to look at how those things helped him in three ways, and then what that means for us.

Because if we're going to seek to practice the way of Jesus, to be practitioners of Jesus' way, followers of the man, and not just calling ourselves by the name, then silence and solitude is something he does, and therefore something that we should also pursue, and something that we should practice.

And so, silence and solitude help him in three ways.

It's gonna mean something to us.

And then I'm gonna actually just give you a practice that you can pursue every single day to pursue silence and solitude.

And so the first thing that we see for Jesus is that silence and solitude helped Jesus pray.

It helped him to pray.

It says, uh Mark 135 says, very early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, went to a solitary place where he prayed.

And he goes off, and the silence and solitude helped him to pray.

And if you remember the last bit of the text, he was, he had all the people, the whole town shows up at the door where he's staying.

And so the the idea is like all those people didn't make their way back home.

They're still either laying on the street, or everybody's still celebrating the fact that they were lame and now they can walk, or they were blind and now they can see, and everybody's freaking out.

And he had to get away from that.

And so he doesn't stay in Capernaum.

He actually goes off into the wilderness.

He goes off into a space to get away from the crowds and to get away from the people before they recognize that he's gone.

And in that space, it creates a space where he is helped in his prayer life and is able to actually pray.

And for us, I think many times when we choose to decide to pray, we're gonna close our eyes, we're gonna go at it, we're gonna pray.

I think many times, and maybe you're like me, you find it difficult to be in silence because silence doesn't help us to pray the way that it does for Jesus.

Silence actually creates a space where all of the inner anxieties that we have and every to-do list that's ever existed in our lives, and everything that we forgot to do, or everything that we need to do, the silence actually creates a space where all of those things rush to the surface, and it's like I'm trying to pray, I'm trying to ask the Lord even to pray for the president, like I'm trying to do good, but like all the anxieties rush into our brains, and silence and solitude don't help us in that way that seems to be a distraction.

But for me, and I think what's what exists here, I think instead of seeing those things as distractions, or it's like I'm in silence and everything is rushing to my mind, instead of seeing those things as distractions, I think we're supposed to see those things as the things that we should be praying for.

Those things that rush to your mind when you're sitting in silence aren't things to be like, I need to push that away, I need to push that away.

Those are the things that are rushing to your minds as the things to be lifted to the Lord.

Those are your prayers.

And so silence does, we normally think it distracts us to be in silence because we all the different jumbled thoughts that come into our brains, but actually the silence is allowing those things finally to surface and finally to be like, what's real in there?

What's actually in my heart?

Oh, it's all this stuff.

And instead of seeing them as distractions, I think we're supposed to see those things as prayers.

Adele Calhoun, in her book, which is a wonderful book on the spiritual disciplines, uh, but she says this she says, in quietness, we often notice things that we would rather not notice or feel.

Don't want to notice those things.

Pockets of sadness or anger or loneliness or impatience begin to surface.

Our own outer agenda looms larger than our desire to be with God in silence.

And as the silence settles in and nothing seems to be happening, we often struggle with the feeling that we are wasting time.

Everything we notice in this struggle can become an invitation to prayer.

It's like a can opener.

The silence opens up the contents of our heart, allowing us deeper access to God than we experience at other times.

And I love that because what she's getting at is this idea of like the things that pop into our minds, the anxieties that pop into your mind when you're in silence and it's finally quiet.

The anxieties that pop into your mind are the things that you should actually be, by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, giving those things to the Lord.

Those anxieties exist in you already.

But as the silence allows them to surface, it's not that they're supposed to get to your heart and create more drama for you.

It's actually supposed to just continue the lift and lift those things further and further up to the Lord.

The frustrations that we feel when silence finally allows those things to surface, those are the things we need to ask help for from God.

The people in our lives that have hurt us and the enemies and the things that we're still frustrated about from the people in our lives, those are our enemies that we should pray for.

When Jesus says, pray for your enemies.

When they surface in the midst of the silence, you're like, I don't want to be thinking about them.

You are though.

And so allow that person, that thing, that that whoever that is, to be a space where you're like, I'm gonna pray for this enemy of mine instead of being angry at them.

Those are the people we need to intercede for when we actually experience, like, oh, I need to go and do something for this person.

Oh, I forgot to write a thank you note for so-and-so.

Oh, I think this person needs some of my attention.

Those are the people, not that you need to stop what you're doing and go and help them, although that's good too, but those are the people that you need to intercede for.

Maybe those are the people that the Lord is actually laying on your heart.

The sins that we need to confess, those are the things that pop into our mind, those are the things that we need to bring to the Lord.

And so I don't know what it is for you that pops into your mind when you're sitting in the midst of silence, but I don't think that they're consistently supposed to be.

I believe they are seeking to distract us, but they're not distractions.

They can be invitations to prayer.

And to me, silence and solitude just reveals those things that noise is able to kind of keep out of our lives.

And I think this is why clinical psychologists say that all of uh everybody's anxiety peaks at night.

It's because you're finally alone with your thoughts.

And so that's why most people go to bed with music on or with a book reading or with a TV on because they don't ever want it to surface.

I want to keep this down.

I need all of this stuff will keep me from sleeping, and I need to be distracted enough to fall asleep.

And then our dream, then in my dreams, I can deal with all the issues that I have.

But realistically, we don't need to distract ourselves from those things.

We don't need to like have the anxieties and keep them shoved down by noise, because distracting ourselves from our anxieties and distracting ourselves from our fears doesn't deliver us from those things.

We still have them.

They still stay in there, they still live in there.

And they're supposed to be this space where you're actually delivered from your fears, not distracted from your fears.

And I think that's what David talks about when he's uh in Psalm 34, he says, I sought the Lord and he answered me, and he delivered me from my fears, not I sought some distraction to distract me from my fears, and then they stayed with me for my entire life.

It's not that.

And so silence and solitude is this invitation where we can actually move into prayer and seek the Lord in prayer and say, these fears finally came to the surface, without the noise, without the distractions, without the people, without all the stuff, without the music, without the TV, without the to-do list and all the calendar stuff that we have going on, all the parties and all this stuff.

As soon as we're in a space where it's actually silent and we're in solitude, those things finally are brought to the surface, and we're able to either choose to take those things and go, I'm gonna seek the Lord with this and be delivered from this fear and be delivered from this thing, or I'm gonna shove this down with more content so that I don't have to deal with it.

And one way is to live with those things your entire life, and one way is to be actually delivered from those things.

And so I think Jesus is helped by the silence and solitude to pray.

And I think we will be helped by that as well, and that's the reason why we need to follow him into this.

It is true that we will be away in silence and solitude, and that might help, but for some of you who it doesn't help, and it seems to be more of a distraction, that's still good, and it's an invitation for you.

So silence and solitude is a space first that can help us to pray.

Secondly, for Jesus, silence and solitude was a source of strength for him.

It was a source where he was he was resourced from this time away of actually being with the Father in silence and solitude is a place where he gained strength.

Um the disciples in this particular story are kind of sucked into the temporary popularity of all the people in Capernaum.

That the whole town is buzzing over Jesus.

And so Jesus is strengthened against the temptation of this that everybody loves me, everybody's thrilled with me, all I'm doing is succeeding, everything I do is winning.

Like the disciples love it.

And Jesus is actually spending time away with his father, and he's strengthened against that temptation.

Uh Trimper Longman, in his commentary on this, notes that Jesus goes to the wilderness, and the first time he goes to the wilderness, if you remember, he's tempted by Satan in the wilderness, and he goes back to that same place, and he says that he's tempted there again, just with a very different temptation.

He says, Jesus was first tempted in the wilderness, and now here Jesus will again face temptation as the disciples seek to lure him back to the scene of so many personal triumphs and to where he has had so much, or excuse me, he has had such a tremendous following.

And so you see this actually take shape.

Go to the next slide here, with uh with the text in verse 36 and 37.

It says Simon and his companions instead of the disciples, which is really what they were.

Um, but people say that Mark doesn't say disciples because they're not acting like disciples, they're acting like people with a man's agenda.

Like, everybody loves us, like let's go be king and rule the world.

Like, and and so he doesn't even call them disciples.

Simon is called not Peter, the disciples are called companions.

But then it says that they went to look for him, and this is a hunting term.

The idea is like they're not they're not like, we're just looking, we're searching.

It's like we are furious.

Where are you?

And they're hunting him with some aggression.

Like, and they find him out in the wilderness and they exclaim at him.

Everyone is, it's not like everyone's looking at you.

It's like, everyone's looking for you, you idiot.

Like, what are you doing?

Like, let's capitalize on this thing.

Look at all the people they love us.

They've never loved anybody like they love us.

The whole town, man.

Let's look, and you got agency.

You can heal these folks, you can do stuff.

And so the disciples come to him and they're furious with him because they're like, you're going to ruin this thing.

You're not going to, if you just keep going away to pray with your father, like we're never going to get the thing that we want.

And Jesus is strengthened by this time away to not one, lash out at them and to say, like, y'all have no idea, like, what get out.

I'm going to get new disciples.

Honestly, it's not going great.

Like, he doesn't do that, but he also isn't sucked into this thing where he's sitting there and going, like, okay, yeah, I want some popularity.

And so he's he's strengthened against the temptation.

And then he says this, he says, Oh, everybody's looking for me?

Great.

Let's go someplace else.

And then he says, which is probably the most confusing thing to decide, like, what?

Like, no, they're looking for you.

Why do we need to go someplace else?

But he's like, This is why I need to preach.

I did not come to be a miracle worker.

There's tons of miracle workers, and they all do it for their own glory.

I didn't come to be a miracle worker.

I came to preach, and my miracles actually just prove my preaching.

It proves that my authority is, I am who I say I am, and my authority is legit, and I'm proving that by miracles.

But I did not come just to do miracles.

I came to preach about the kingdom so that people can hear with their ears and respond with their hearts to the word being preached and then enter into this thing.

If I just pop miracles into every community I'm in, all they're gonna be is impressed with me.

They're never gonna call me Lord and Savior and King in that capacity.

And so for Jesus, this time away strengthens him against the temptation and in his resolve to go, I know what my mission is.

And if I give in to the crowds loving me, they're not supposed to fall in love with me.

I came to give my life as a ransom for many.

They're going to take my life.

If I give in to them just loving me and the popularity of people loving me, I'll never actually do the thing that I came here to do, which is to give my life away for the ransom of many.

I'll never be able to redeem people because I'll just go with the crowds and do whatever they want.

And so this becomes a space for Jesus where he's strengthened against all these different things.

But he's not strengthened from doing more stuff and being around the disciples and being around those things.

He's strengthened from this other place, this internal thing that the Father is doing within him.

And it helps him against temptation and all those different things.

There's this place called Gan Hashlasha.

Go to the first slide here.

This is uh this underwater spring in Israel uh near Mount Gilboa where uh King Saul died.

It's this beautiful, beautiful thing.

But you can't see it in this photo.

Don't move just yet, so you can stay here.

But this thing, year-round, is this beautiful.

Year round, this is this underwater spring in Israel is this beautiful.

Regardless of drought or anything that's going on around it, the water is this blue, it's cool in the summer, it's warmed in the winter, like it is the perfect, perfect spot, and it's sitting in the middle of a desert, basically, where nothing else grows around it.

And nothing else can grow around it because it's all waiting on rain and something outside of itself to help it to grow.

But this thing is sourced and resourced from something underneath, something you can't see.

And so, because it does so well and it's it has so many visitors, there's a there's a documentary on it that was done back in 2012 called The Garden of Eden.

Many Jewish rabbinic tradition is that this is the original Garden of Eden.

Like they really think that this is the space.

Go to the next slide here.

That's another image of it.

But like notice the grass growing, and like if you could see around it, there's no grass growing, but this is resourced from a different space.

Next slide.

There's a waterfall right there.

Um, beautiful.

And then the next slide here, this is the best picture that you can kind of see.

Do you see the desert beyond it?

Like it's just surrounded by nothing.

Like there's just nothing can grow in this space.

But this space is thriving because it's resourced from a different spot.

And I think to me, this is the perfect picture of what Jesus is doing.

He goes away in silence and in solitude, not looking for anything from other people.

And like, hey, you got any money?

Hey, you got any of this?

Hey, you got any more?

You got a little more, you any more accolades, any more love, any more, none of that.

Like, I just want to go away and out of sight where no one can see me, and I can be alone in solitude and silence with the Father.

And from that space, he is resourced from a very different space.

And he's able to be strengthened in that space because he's not looking for something outside of himself.

He's actually spending time with the Father and is resourced from that space.

And to me, this is exactly what is available to us in solitude and silence.

Jesus is resourced by doing less and pursuing less, not seeking more in his life.

And I think for us, we normally think with our needs, we just need to add more to our lives.

We do this with our happiness and contentment.

As soon as I have this thing, as soon as I have more, I need, I need I need that relationship, I need to get married, I need to have kids, I need to get this job, this promotion, this much money, this house, this car, whatever that is.

Like when I just need one more thing.

That's that uh quote from uh Rockefeller's like, how much money is enough?

And he's like, just a little bit more, so a little bit more.

And it's like just a little bit more will finally be the thing.

And it's like, it doesn't, it doesn't ever really work that way.

We do this with our fears.

I'm struggling with fear.

I just need more information.

I need to watch more of the news and be more informed.

It's like, how's that working?

I don't think that's going so great.

More news, more daily feed of like just nonsense into it's just not more doesn't help us in that way.

I don't feel as secure, I need more money to feel more secure, I need more protection, I need more ammunition, like literal ammunition, I need more ammunition.

I need more, I need more.

Don't feel as loved, I need more relationships, more dates.

And if you have a relationship, you're like, I just need a little more love from someplace else.

Don't feel as loved, I need a little more.

Don't feel respected at my job as accomplished, I need a little more success, a little more on the bottom line, a little more, a little more authority, a little more.

As soon as I get this, don't feel like your life is going the way that you want it, a little more control.

I just need to be myself.

I need to focus on myself more, and then I'll actually have life go the way that I want it.

And we know it naturally, it's just in us to naturally think if I have more, my life will be better.

And Jesus is showing us just a very different way here that you can be resourced from a space not of pursuing more, but actually going to a free space that's available to you always, but it is in secret, and it is in silence and solitude of actually being resourced by the Father to receive the things that you're looking for and having those things actually poured into you.

Not I'll be content when I get this, but like maybe contentment can be poured in from a secret space of the Lord actually doing that for you in a space of silence and solitude.

I think if you look at all what we're all the things that were promised when we seek the Lord instead of seeking to add things to our lives, seeking the Lord instead of seeking to add, I think you see a lot.

Isaiah says, those who wait on the Lord or those who look to the Lord will have renewed strength.

You want some strength?

Real strength comes from just sitting with the Lord and waiting, looking to Him and not looking to anything outside of you.

You don't need more strength by the power you can get from somebody else giving you power.

That's not ever going to do it for you.

But sitting with the Lord, like waiting on him, then those things that you're looking for and the strength that you're longing for, you will be renewed in your strength.

You will walk and not grow weary, you will run and not grow faint, you will soar on wings like it.

It's a beautiful, beautiful thing.

But it's those who wait on the Lord, not who get more stuff.

The same with David.

I waited patiently for the Lord.

He inclined to me and heard my cry.

And then look what he receives in waiting for the Lord.

He receives what he's looking for.

For.

He drew me out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, set my feet on a rock.

He made my steps secure.

All these things.

He's like, he didn't get more army.

He didn't get more soldiers.

He didn't get more weapons.

He didn't get any of that.

Like, what did you do to get to be set in a space where you feel good now?

I waited and I waited patiently on the Lord.

And he heard my cry and then he gave me the thing.

He resourced me in a way that I couldn't be resourced anywhere else.

Isaiah 64, from of old, no one has heard or perceived by the ear.

No eye has seen a God besides you, Lord, who acts for those who wait for him.

And I think this is the invitation that we constantly have in silence and solitude.

It seems like such a small thing.

Like, what is getting away in silence and solitude and just sitting with the Lord?

What will that possibly do?

But Jesus here is resourced in a way that other people aren't.

And disciples are swept up into the madness of the crowds, and it would have killed them to consistently be in that way.

We have to constantly make people happy and make them love us and make them just thrilled with us.

We've got to constantly do that.

That weight would be crushing.

And Jesus is like, one, that's not what I'm here to do, and that's not what we're going to do.

Let's go someplace else.

I'm not going to fall into that temptation that more is better.

I'm actually going to just be resourced by the Father.

And I'm going to allow this space with him to be the thing that guides me and moves me where I need to go.

Jesus received what he needed by removing things, not by adding things.

And I think that's true for us.

Robert Sara, in his book, The Power of Silence, talking about this discipline, says the desire to see God is what urges us to love solitude and silence.

For silence is where God dwells.

He drapes himself in silence.

In every era, this experience of an interior life and an intimate, loving relationship with God has remained indispensable for those who seek true happiness.

Followers of Jesus have been running off into the desert for thousands of years, ultimately, to find happiness in God.

I love that last line.

This isn't something that's this new age way of practicing stuff.

Like, no, this is a historic, ancient practice that Jesus Himself did.

That the followers of Jesus have been like, I think if he did it, I probably need to do some of that too.

And just choosing to go, like, I'm just gonna press reset on everything else and not like go sit in a duck blind, no offense to duck blinds.

That's great, that's awesome.

But and I know you can be with the Lord in that particular space, but like removing everything, everything from your life.

There's nothing and no distraction.

Like I am intentionally choosing to just be with the Lord and intending my heart and my mind to just be with him.

And again, I know you can do it in a duck blind.

Sorry, I didn't mean to come on the sorry, it's Father's Day, just thinking about hunting, whatever.

Silence and solitude is supposed to be a resource for you to receive what you actually need from the Father.

He wants to resource you.

He is a father who loves to give good gifts to his kids.

He wants to be that.

But if we're constantly seeking it elsewhere and other places, trying to add more, we're never gonna get the thing that we're actually looking for.

All right, lastly, silence and solitude for Jesus, it helped him hear the quiet voice of his father.

It helped him hear the quiet voice of his father.

Richard Foster says that this is why Jesus made this practice consistent in his ministry throughout the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

You see this all the time.

And then when you see the early church doing it, they start doing the exact same thing, pursuing silence, pursuing solitude, seeking to do this.

But Jesus wanted to hear the quiet voice of his father.

This is what Richard Foster in his book, The Celebration of Discipline, says.

He says, Jesus inaugurated his ministry by spending 40 days alone in the desert.

That's Matthew 4.

Before he chose the twelve disciples, he spent the entire night alone in the desert hills, Luke 6.

When he received the news of John the Baptist's death, he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place, Matthew 14.

After the miraculous feeding of the 5,000, Jesus went up into the hills by himself.

Following a long night of work in the morning, this is our text, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place.

When the twelve returned from a teach a preaching and healing mission, Jesus instructed them, Come away by yourselves to a lonely place.

Following the healing of the leper, Jesus withdrew to the wilderness and prayed.

With three disciples, he sought the silence of a lonely mountain as the stage for the transfiguration.

And then as he prepared for his highest and most holy work on the cross, Jesus sought once again the solitude and silence of the Garden of Gethsemane.

In order to hear the divine whisper better, Jesus frequently experienced outward solitude.

And I love that idea that this is just what he's doing.

He wanted to hear the quiet voice of his father.

And he even recognized that, like, this is primarily how the Lord speaks.

Like what twice in his whole ministry, the Father speaks directly over the people, maybe three times.

But like twice, I mean, that's not a ton of times of him hearing the direct voice of God, but he constantly heard the still small voice that uh 1 Kings 19 talks about.

The still small voice of hearing God speak to him.

And he chose silence and solitude in order for him to hear that.

Because God chooses consistently to speak quietly.

He could shout from the rooftops and he could be the loudest person because he runs this, but he chooses consistently to go very, very small, whisper, silent kind of thing, because it forces us at the end of the day.

If he speaks loudly, we can hear him from a distance, but he doesn't want to know us from a distance.

He wants to know us super close.

And so he chooses to whisper and he chooses to be quiet when he speaks to us because it forces us at the end of the day to draw near to him, which is his whole vision for our relationship with him.

He wants us to draw near.

And so if you think of somebody whispering to you, what do you have to do?

You have to like put your ear up to their mouth to like hear their whisper.

You have to like stop talking to hear somebody whisper, which is always a good practice.

You have to tell everybody else to be quiet, turn off the radio, do all that stuff, move yourself into a space of silence so that you can hear somebody whisper to you.

That's what he wants.

Again, to speak from a distance at you, from far away.

One, we feel distant from God and He and we're not, but like He doesn't want to speak to us that way.

He wants us to draw near so that we're always that close with Him.

This is always what He's wanted.

From the beginning of the scriptures on, He wants to whisper to us so that we're forced to draw near, so that He has the relationship and we have the relationship with Him, where we are forced to get very, very close to Him.

And so for you, if you long to hear the voice of God, and the scriptures actually testify to the fact that we don't live on bread alone, but by every word that comes and proceeds from His mouth.

And so if the scriptures testify that, like you will live, you will experience the life that you need and the stuff that you're looking for, it's from hearing His voice, but it requires us to get into a space of silence and solitude and seeking to listen and seeking to hear, so that we're actually hearing the still small, quiet voice of the Father like Jesus does.

Author Susan Modo gives us insight and it's really beautiful.

She says, In a noise-polluted world, it is even difficult to hear ourselves think, let alone try to be still and know God.

Yet it seems essential for our spiritual life, essential for the spiritual life to seek some silence, no matter how busy we may be.

Silence is not to be shunned as empty space, but to be befriended as fertile ground for intimacy with God.

And to me, this is what Jesus is pursuing: fertile ground for closeness, fertile ground for intimacy, because this is what he wanted.

We don't have this quote, but Richard Foster says in his book, he's like, if Jesus does this so much, if this is his common practice and we are seeking to be followers of him, if he does it because he needs it, if he does it because this is something he wants, it's something we should want, and it's something we need to.

And so if he pursues silence and solitude, so should we.

We should do that.

And so that's what I want for you.

I want you to know that like this is something we should do, even if you are, regardless of what stage of life that you're in and how difficult or how easy it is to be away in the silence, but to spend some time and take some time just to have a space where it's like I'm going to intentionally pursue silence and solitude, and intentionally pursue just to be with him and just to even say that.

In my prayer time with the Lord, I'm just like, I'm just gonna sit with you, and I just say that.

I'm gonna as much time as I can, I'm gonna give you this space of silence, and whatever comes into my mind, I'm gonna try and give those things to you as well.

But to just saying out loud, like my intention here, I told Larry the other day, I was like, I've started bringing a glass of wine to my prayer closet.

It makes it better.

I don't know, I feel like I'm communing with the Lord.

Maybe I have a problem, but I feel like Jesus drank wine in the, anyways, I we'll delete that from the podcast.

Um, but like I just, it's a space of like, I want to commune with you and I want to enjoy this.

And so um I do think just pursuing silence and solitude is in and of itself, but like I bring certain books that I don't read, like me and my son read books uh together, but I bring a I'm reading a book right now that I'm only reading with him.

Like I read it no other, not with Teddy, but with the Lord.

Like I just want to read this book with you, and it's it's nonfiction, I or excuse me, it's fiction.

I never read fiction.

But I've started to read fiction because like I want to read this story with you, and so like just trying to creatively come up with space where I'm like, I'm just pursuing time with you.

The way that my son pursues time with me, I want to do that with you.

And so for us, we should pursue silence and solitude and bring a little wine if it helps.

Um, silence and solitude, that's I think that's funny.

Is that not funny?

Is that okay?

That's great.

You don't have to laugh.

Everybody's like, man, there's something wrong.

Okay.

Silence and solitude is supposed to help us pray.

It is supposed to be a space where it helps us pray.

It is so that we can experience and receive and be resourced like Gan Hislashia, so that we're resourced from a space that no one else sees.

It's like, what where did that strength come from?

Where did that peace come from?

And it's like, I spent time in silence and in solitude with the one who is peace himself.

And honestly, he just rubbed off on me a bit.

And so, no, I didn't get the thing, I didn't get the job that I was looking for, I didn't get the extra, you know, whatever.

I didn't get any of that.

But honestly, I was I was resourced with peace from a secret place.

And then we hear the voice of God speaking to us in silence and in solitude.

It's a gift for us, it's supposed to be.

And the reason we know that silence and solitude is a gift for us is because Jesus made it a gift.

On the cross, Jesus receives silence and solitude from the Father.

He is abandoned by everybody.

The Father turns his face away from Jesus on the cross.

Silence of heaven is happening.

Even the sun stops shining on this thing.

Silence and solitude that Jesus experienced on the cross, that he shouts out, Why have you forsaken me?

Why am I so alone in this space?

But he receives the silence and the solitude of God on the cross so that we could walk into silence and solitude and experience more of a relationship.

He was turned away in silence and solitude so that when we step into silence and solitude, we get closer.

And so he was actually put and exiled out in silence and solitude, get away from me, because you have become sin.

And now we get to step into this beautiful thing of silence and solitude and be like, I'm not even doing anything.

It's like, that's great, but he has made it a gift so that you can draw near.

And so for us, if Jesus died to give it to us, let's press in and pursue that thing.

So, how do we do that?

How do we practice this?

Two things rather quickly.

Uh, the the spiritual practice of silence is intentionally pursuing silence on your own.

Go to the do we have this?

There we go.

Silence on your own, uh, time away on your own, free from stimulation of people, technology, in order to listen to God, hear from God, and just keep the company of Jesus.

We're just, I'm just acknowledging your presence consistently.

This is what it is.

And so, how we can do that, two ways.

One, um, it's an acronym that I made up, which I think is awesome.

So if you don't like it, that's okay.

But practice getting still.

Um, this is if you, I don't, you know, if it's one minute, if it's five minutes, that's ten minutes, but still is an acronym.

Find a space that is a space where you can, a room walking in a park, whatever, but distraction-free space.

Just find a space that is where you can be alone and in solitude.

And then find a time that's the most consistent, something that you can keep doing.

You can set a time.

Uh, excuse me, just like this during this particular part of the day, I know everyone's out of the house.

I have five minutes.

If that time is the most consistent time that you're alone and can be in silence, great.

Find that time.

Uh make it interruption free, free from phones, music, background noise, just actually where you're sitting in the silence.

And then set a length.

I don't know how you want to do this with a clock or like an old school watch or something like that, or just set you know, Alexa or your phone outside somewhere and when it goes off.

So you're not thinking about how long have I been sitting here?

I need to get back to my stuff.

You don't have to think about that.

So you just set a length and then an alarm goes off and you're done with your time of silence.

And I think that's helpful.

Unless you just have an indefinite amount of time and then just you use that thing.

And then I encourage you to listen.

You're just sitting, the whole point is just to, I'm just making this time between me and the Lord, and I'm just gonna listen to my thoughts, and as my thoughts come in and the the things that seemingly distract us, I'm gonna allow those things to come in and surface, and I'm just gonna continue the upward lift of the, as they lift up in my heart, my mind, I'm gonna continue to lift up to the Lord and like take that one too, this one as well, that anxiety too, that person as well.

I hate them, Lord.

I shouldn't hate them.

Will you help me with hating them?

Like just constantly bringing those things and then listening for God's voice.

And what is he saying to you?

What scriptures are popping into your mind?

What is he saying to you?

You will get distracted, don't be discouraged by that.

Practicing the way of Jesus is that it's practicing.

You are doing something that you're not good at in order to grow in your development in it.

And so don't be discouraged.

But I would encourage you this week to practice getting still, I would do it every day.

I would find a space to be resourced from a different space and bring all those things and allow them to be surfaced and bring those things to the Lord.

So that's one way.

I do this, I would encourage you to do this.

Find a space where you can do that.

Uh, second one is uh we have recently are seeking to start a partnership with this place, the Retreat House.

It's in Eads, Tennessee.

Uh Annie Gattaparthy knows a bunch about Annie.

Are you in here?

Yeah, she is.

Yeah.

Um, but uh this retreat house in Eads, it's 20 minutes from where we're at, it's 20 minutes from here.

Uh but they do silent retreats.

It's like you go, you like show up there at 9.30 and then you stay till 12.30 or something like that.

But if you can find a space to go up there, I mean it costs money and do that, but we're gonna do church retreats where we take people to do silent retreats, day-long things.

Uh, but Annie has done that, she her practice is actually using that space for group stuff that they're doing, but it's awesome.

And you can go to brlocal.com to find out information about that.

But they have a silent retreat coming up on the 19th, and then another one on the 9th of July.

Um, but if you're just like, hey, I'm in, I don't need five minutes, I need a full-on day retreat.

Like, do that thing.

Like, go and use this space.

Uh, the lady Allison that we've connected with um is just wonderful and is a you know a follower of Jesus and all the rest of it.

But if you want information about that, Annie knows a ton.

Annie, will you raise your hand in the back?

There she is, she's in the back.

Uh she knows a ton about that.

But eventually we're seeking to partner with them in order to help them do some work on their space.

But uh I love this, I love this thing, and we got to see it.

A couple of us, Andrew Banker and Colin got to go, and Derek and a bunch of people just got to go see it and just see what they do.

But it's brilliant.

I know all the people there.

So, um, anyways, that's a space if you're if you're looking for a resource in that, the retreat house in the Eads.

But uh Ruth Haley Barton, last quote I got for you, says this, and it's wonderful.

She says, the invitation to solitude and silence is just that.

It's an invitation to communication and communion with the one who's always present, even when our awareness of him has been dulled by distraction.

Solitude and silence is an invitation to enter more deeply into the intimacy of relationship with the one who waits just outside the noise and busyness of our lives.

And I love that.

It's an invitation for the one who's constantly waiting outside the noise and outside the distraction and outside of the busyness.

He's constantly like, give me whatever you got.

You got a minute, you got 30 seconds, you got 10 hours, I don't care.

But there's a space for him where his arms are wide open going, I want to be the one that resources you.

I want to be the one that is the closest person to you.

I gave my life so that you could experience that.

And so this practice for us is a gift.

It's this reversal of what Jesus took.

He took the curse so that it could become a blessing for us.

And so as we step into this year, this week, whatever, allow the practice of Jesus that He consistently did to be something that you also practice.

Let me pray.