Solitude

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. (Mar 1:35 NIV)

Jesus often withdrew himself in isolation.

He withdrew himself:
1. To have intimate moments with His heavenly Father
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. (Mar 1:35 NIV)

2. To deal with the pain He experienced
When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. (Mat 14:13 NIV)

3. To start off His day before facing the crowd
At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them.
(Luk 4:42 NIV)

Solitude frees us from the need to please anyone.
Solitude helps us to realign our priorities. God, family, friends, etc.
Nothingness.
When we are stripped of all the external attractions and distractions, the pulls and pushes, we realize the one truly important person to please is God.
We need not earn the approval of others.
We already have the approval of God.

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
(Jer 31:3 NIV)


Sometimes, pleasing others is the very thing that leave us dry and in desperate need of a Savior's touch. We get wearied. We get tired earning our approval of others - our loved ones (our parents, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc), our bosses, our friends.
Pleasing others is the very reason we need solitude.
We need to get into a time of solitude to realize that we do not need the approval of anyone for us to carry on our journey.
Solitude allows us a time to STOP and PAUSE - why we do the things we do.

Like Matt Redman's song, When The Music Fades

When the music fades
All is stripped away

And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless Your heart......

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
It's all about You, Jesus

As J.P. Moreland said,

"It keeps us from having an inflated view of our importance, it surfaces anxiety, fear, and worry along with our controlling strategies to keep from facing them, and it opens our heart to hear from our real, authentic selves and God."

It is hard for many of us, myself included, to do nothing. Nothing besides us except the watchful presence of the Loving Father.

J.P. Moreland further suggested an evening stroll, or a leisure drive in the slow lane while caught up in the traffic as means we can use to spend our solitude. In those moments, we can focus on Him and Him alone.

Photo in this blog is from this website.