This Sunday, Pastor Joe continued the Striving for Holiness series and the larger question introduced in the previous message:
Does God still speak to His people?
Last week, the focus was on hearing God through His Word. This week, Pastor Joe turned to something that can be difficult to find in our increasingly noisy and busy lives:
Silence and solitude.
He began with something from his own Sunday morning routine. He often gets up between four and five in the morning, when the house is still and quiet. That gives him an opportunity to sit with what he has studied during the week and pray, “All right, Lord, show me what You want to say to Your people.”
That quiet provides something increasingly rare in our lives—space to be still before God.
Jesus Himself regularly sought such places.
“But the news about him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.”
— Luke 5:15–16
Even as the crowds around Jesus increased, He intentionally withdrew from them to spend time alone with the Father. Joe’s outline identifies four purposes for doing the same: withdrawing from the world’s noise, stopping useless busyness, silencing the enemy’s voice, and having communion with God so that we may hear His voice.
Withdraw From the Noise
Pastor Joe reminded us that the world was once much quieter.
There was a time when a telephone remained attached to a wall or sat on a table. If someone called while you were away, you simply missed the call. There was no constant stream of text messages, email, social media, internet, television, and notifications competing for our attention.
Today, noise follows us almost everywhere.
But Scripture repeatedly calls God’s people to quiet themselves before Him.
“Coastlands, listen to me in silence, and let the peoples gain new strength.”
— Isaiah 41:1
Pastor Joe quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer from Life Together:
“One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.”
Biblical solitude is therefore not isolation from the body of Christ. We need fellowship, but we also need times when we withdraw from the voices around us and become quiet before God.
Stop the Useless Busyness
Noise is not our only problem.
Sometimes we are simply busy.
Pastor Joe distinguished productive work from busyness for the sake of being busy. There is always another email to answer, another text to return, another task to complete, and another demand for our attention.
Even good work can become a problem when our activity for God begins to replace our communion with God.
Joe’s notes express that point with this quotation:
“We have an unhealthy estimation of our own importance when we think our deeds for God are more important than our communion with God.”
That brings to mind Mary and Martha. Martha was busy serving, while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened. The problem was not that serving was wrong. The danger was allowing the activity surrounding Jesus to become more important than being with Jesus.
Psalm 46:10 says:
“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
— Psalm 46:10
Pastor Joe pointed to the Hebrew word behind the familiar rendering “Be still,” explaining its sense of letting go, relaxing, becoming quiet, and ceasing.
He then shared a memorable statement from Pastor Robby Gallaty:
“Every great move of God begins with not moving.”
There are times when faithfulness means acting.
But there are also times when we need to stop.
Be still. Listen. Hear.
If our lives are filled with constant noise and activity, we may leave very little room to listen.
Silence the Voice of the Enemy
Silence and solitude also give us an opportunity to recognize and resist voices that do not reflect the character of God.
This connects directly with the previous sermon. We learn the character of God through His Word, and that gives us a standard by which to discern what we hear.
Pastor Joe turned to Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness:
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”
— Matthew 4:1
The wilderness was not necessarily evidence that something had gone wrong. Jesus was led by the Spirit into it.
There He fasted, communed with the Father, and when temptation came, He answered the enemy with the truth of Scripture.
Afterward:
“Then the devil left him, and angels came and began to serve him.”
— Matthew 4:11
Pastor Joe connected that with James:
“Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
— James 4:7
Notice the order.
Submit to God. Resist the devil.
And Pastor Joe emphasized that resistance is active, not passive. Scripture does not tell us merely to ignore the enemy; it tells us to resist him. Jesus did so with the truth of God’s Word. Joe’s outline specifically emphasizes both the initial submission to God and that active resistance.
Sometimes the wilderness is not where God has abandoned us.
Sometimes it is precisely where He has led us to prepare us, strengthen us, and draw us nearer to Himself.
Communion With God
This brought Pastor Joe to what he described as the most important purpose of silence and solitude:
“To have communion with God so that we may hear His voice.”
He illustrated the problem with trying to have a conversation in a crowded restaurant. As more people began talking, everyone spoke louder, until it became difficult even to hear the person sitting directly across the table.
Sometimes our lives can become like that.
There are so many voices, responsibilities, distractions, and concerns surrounding us that we struggle to listen.
Silence creates room for communion with God.
Pastor Joe reflected on a “wilderness” period from his own life when he initially wondered why God had placed him where he was. He felt far removed from the ministry and fellowship he thought he should be experiencing.
Looking back, however, he sees that period differently.
What seemed at the time like being pushed away was actually a season in which God was drawing him nearer.
That changes the way we understand the wilderness.
The wilderness does not always mean punishment or abandonment.
Sometimes the wilderness is an invitation to intimacy.
Withdrawal to Someone
Pastor Joe made an important distinction about what silence and solitude are—and what they are not.
A vacation may provide rest. Hunting, shopping, sitting on a beach, or enjoying a hobby may provide a welcome break from work and responsibility.
There is nothing necessarily wrong with those things.
But that is not automatically biblical silence and solitude.
As Pastor Joe put it:
“The purpose of Silence and Solitude is not simply a withdrawal from something … it is a withdrawal TO SOMEONE!”
That someone is God.
Silence and solitude are intentional. We withdraw from distractions so that we can give our attention to Him.
It is saying:
“God, I simply want to be alone with You.”
This is not merely getting away from work, nor is it being alone while doing something that satisfies our own desires.
It is intentionally making room for communion with God.
And, as Pastor Joe emphasized, only in this can we find true rest and renewal.
How Do I Do This?
Pastor Joe concluded with several practical ways to begin practicing silence and solitude. From his outline:
- Commit to a time daily, to find a quiet place to sit, pray, read the word and LISTEN. (More on this next week)
- Set the phone aside and turn off the computer, the TV
- Get up early when the house is quiet
- Take a walk in a quiet place
- Schedule a longer period of time to get away, (a few hours)
Then:
“Let your mind be still, speak to God, read His Word, and listen. Not just with your ears but with your heart and soul.”
Pastor Joe acknowledged that quieting the environment may actually be easier than quieting our minds.
We can turn off the television.
We can put down the phone.
We can close the door.
But becoming still inside may take time.
So give it time.
This is not simply another religious routine to complete. It is intentionally making space to be with God.
Pastor Joe also pointed ahead to the next part of the series on prayer. Too often, we practice only one side of prayer: we come before God, praise Him, present our requests—and then immediately go about our day.
We speak.
But do we stop and listen?
Silence and solitude invite us to do just that.
Pastor Joe closed with words from Thomas à Kempis:
“Close the door upon yourself and call to you, Jesus your Beloved. Remain with Him in your cell, for nowhere else will you find such peace.”
So the challenge from this week’s message is not simply to find a quieter life.
It is to intentionally make room for God within the life He has given us.
Withdraw from the noise.
Stop the unnecessary busyness.
Submit to God and resist the enemy.
Make time for communion with the Lord.
Be still. Read His Word. Speak to Him. And listen.
May we learn to seek those quiet places where distractions fade, our hearts become still, and our attention is fixed upon the God who desires communion with His people.
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