Spiritual Disciplines: Solitude/Sabbath

Good morning and welcome to another week of church here at the Bridge. I am so glad that we could be here together.

I was thinking about this mornings message and I kept thinking how do we talk about this kind of Spiritual disciplines. Solitude is a tricky thing to understand. Honestly it is a tricky thing to get. Let’s try to understand it a little better.

Solitude can be simply defined as “The State of being alone”.

Every parents dream right. Time alone.

Last week I talked about the kids and Angie are going to be heading to visit family today. That leaves me home alone. Now I have to say the first day or two I love it. I get to enjoy the food i want. I can sleep in (Secretly thats only like till 8am). I can Enjoy the movies or shows i want without worrying about others. It is a nice time. After a couple days though the same thing happens every time.

I start to feel lonely.

Feeling Lonely

That is one of the problems with solitude for many people is that it becomes challenging to be alone especially for people who are always around others. Loneliness is a difficult thing to get over and through. This is one of the most important things understanding the difference between Loneliness and Solitude. We aren’t seeking time to be alone to feel depressed or sad but to feel fulfilled.

Loneliness is about inner emptiness. It creates fear in us.

When we focus on loneliness we are consumed by our own inner desires and need to be feeling fulfilled. We are lost and hurting and it is a difficult thing.

Think about this for a moment. Our culture is so afraid of being alone we have found ways to stay constantly connected to people. Think about your phone for a second. This used to be just a means to call and connect to people for a short amount of time. Yet, when we left home the phone stayed at home. If we went to the park the only people we would be around are those int he park so you could be potentially alone and no one would know where you are.

Think about how the information and how we receive it keeps chaining. It has gotten faster and faster. I am old enough that I remember a time when we didn’t hear about all the things going on in the world. If we wanted to know what was happening around the world we had to be very intentional about finding it out. Now its pick up a phone or turn on a computer or a tv and you are flooded with information. We can send messages or video calls to people we can connect connect connect to people more and more. Yet, people still feel lonely.

It was here that it hit me. We struggle with loneliness because we aren’t happy with who we are or what we are going through. We strive to stay connected. We want to be around people or noise to feel like we aren’t alone. We have filled our lives with noise.

Yet, this idea of Solitude is thought to simply being alone. Let’s look at Jesus and Solitdue

Matthew 14:23 NIV

23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone,

Luke 5:16 NIV

16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Jesus and Solitude

Both of these passages present us a very simple insight into the life of Jesus. He regularly spent time in isolation from others. He sought time alone. He spent time away from others. Now this is a struggle for many because that means the battle of loneliness. However, this idea of solitude is important because if we use Jesus’ example we see that Solitude isn’t just about being alone its about being filled.

If Loneliness is about inner emptiness.

Solitude is inner fulfillment.

It is about building our relationship with God and no one else.

Think about Jesus for a moment. He went to lonely places. Yet, he wasn’t alone. He went to experience his relationship with God. He went to find time for God. He went to find fulfillment in who he was. God’s son.

It is in the solitude the time alone that Jesus was filled. He was restored. He was able to recharge and be confident in who he was.

Solitude In Practice

Now i know many of us live very busy lives. it is a challenge to find time for solitude or alone time.

Ask yourself. When was the last time you were able to plan time to be alone. To set aside time to remove everything from you life but you and God?

That is a daunting task sometimes.

Yet, one of the best places that we can start is looking for the little times of Solitude of quietness and using them to enjoy some time with God. To spend that time focused on God. To spend it being filled.

This made me realize that we have other ideas that follow this that we try to practice as Christians.

Genesis 2:2–3 NIV

2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Sabbath

Yes, even God took time to rest and find peace. Do we need a better example than that to realize that sometimes in life we try to fill it with too much. We don’t ever take time to rest. To seek those moments where we recharge. Sabbath like Solitude is about being intentional with time to restore who we are. To refill our batteries.

For me it is not uncommon for us to see God’s commands as these highly spiritual practices. Yet, often if we really examine them we find out that they are also very practical.

I look back on my time at Academy and working as a manger. During the Holiday season or during inventory every year I would be working long hours. Often, i would only get one day off a week. Working 10 to 12 hours a day 6 days a week you start to get tired. Working odd hours and with difficulties of customer service it was a time that when I finally got my day off i was ready for some rest. I found that one day off turned into a day that was almost never productive because i was tired out. My body would force me to rest.

It was this time that I realized more than ever that God knows his creation probably better than we do.

We are designed for work and rest. We are designed to be creatures that need to take time to restore our bodies both physically and mentally.

Now Sabbath also has important spiritual implications as well. We are called to work to make that time of rest Holy. Focused on God.

The connections between Solitude and Sabbath are amazing. We are called to follow God’s example Both through his example after he finished the creation but also through Jesus and his example.

Find the time

This topic was one that i felt we needed to cover. It is one that our culture struggles with. We rarely take the time to be alone and silent or in solitude with God. We don’t take the time to find rest and to seek God in those moments of rest. Yet, If we start building this practice even if it is in smaller incriments and focus in our times of rest to build our lives around God what might change for us. I Challenge you this morning to start. Find some time. Set it aside. Allow it to be focused on Him. Let Him fill you and restore you and find rest in who he is so that you may know who you are.

Let us pray.