"Confidence in Solitude"

Greetings! I trust that all of you had a wonderful thanksgiving holiday. It was sure wonderful spending time with my family.

Well…I have been involved in a very fulfilling study with my HomeTeam. We have been studying through Richard Foster’s, Celebration of Discipline. Each week we are taking a look at another one of the spiritual disciplines in the life of a disciple of Christ. This last week we studied about the discipline of “solitude.” While in this study, Foster led us to an interesting verse in Isaiah the 30th chapter, and then he followed that with an interesting question. I wanted to share the verse and question with you, as well as some of my insights as I have struggled to answer this question.

Here is the verse from Isaiah 30:15 (New Living Translation)…

“The Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says, ‘Only in returning to me and waiting for me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength.’”

Foster asks the question, “How does solitude produce confidence?” I have really wrestled with my answer to this question. This morning as I was having some solitude, I believe the Lord began to reveal to me an answer (Ironic? I think not!) Solitude is what I like to call “God Time.” There are no other distractions. For 30, 45, or 60 minutes (you choose), it is just you and your heavenly Father…Sovereign Lord…the Holy One of Israel. Solitude doesn’t mean silence! Solitude simply means that you are controlling the environment around you to maximize your time with your heavenly Father. For you, worship music in the background may help you make the most of your time with God. For you, singing some worship songs may help you maximize your time alone with God. For you, maybe complete silence and solitude go hand in hand. Maybe, just maybe, the quieter it is, the more fulfilled you become in your time alone with God.

At any rate, as we practice the discipline of solitude, we pause to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and hear the voice of God. It is here in this solitude that our relationship with God is deepened, and the deeper we go, the more confident we become. Why? Well, I liken it to the confidence of a young boy around his Father. I consider my son a brave young lad for sure, but it is amazing to see just how brave he becomes when dad is standing by his side watching. All of a sudden, that ball is not so hard to kick…that ball is not so hard to hit…that height is not so high after all…and that water isn’t so deep after all. For him, it is almost as if he is saying, “With my dad here, I can do anything?”

For me, that is how I see solitude building confidence in the believer. As we spend more time in solitude, as our relationship with our Father grows deeper, as we feel him getting closer, we become amazingly more confident in our faith and life. All of a sudden, that darkness isn’t so dark after all…that mountain isn’t so hard to climb…that gift isn’t so hard to give…that enemy isn’t so hard to love…and that gospel is all of a sudden so much easier to share.

My encouragement for you this week, friends, is to discipline yourself to make time in your day for the discipline of solitude. Go off somewhere! Sit in a chair in your backyard. Take a walk in your local park. Drive out to the lake. Whatever you need to do, just spend about thirty minutes to an hour in solitude with the Sovereign Lord. Listen for his voice. Drink in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Get to know the Holy One of Israel for Jesus himself has said…

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
- John 17:3 (NIV)

As you grow deeper and deeper in your relationship with Almighty God, may he inspire you with the confidence that moves mountains. Blessings…