Dear Readers: We have had many requests to revisit this 31-day series originally posted in January, 2017. We pray you develop a fresh hunger and thirst for God, a passion to pursue Him will be awakened, and a deeper revelation received. Our hope is that a profound awe and reverence for Him will be cultivated within you.

~ Editor, Walk His Way

  “And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was there alone.” Matthew 14:23

Perfect Solitude

Cultivating Awe and Reverence for God, Day 4

Walk his Way revisited —First posted in January, 2017

I love to be alone. I crave solitude. While raising a number of children in a wide range of ages, I felt I would never be alone again. They would surely NEVER all be gone at the same time. My house, life, and thoughts would never be still again. But eventually, they all married and left to live their lives without their parents around.

Not all of you are glad to have a quiet house, but I am. A noisy environment requires a lot of energy. It exhausts me. It keeps me so preoccupied that I seem to have no thoughts of my own—only input, input, input.

Even living in a quiet house, I know that I still need the personal discipline of shutting out distractions so that I can be focused on the Lord. “Distraction is our active choice to briefly escape something demanding,” Matthew Westerholm writes in a blog post on John Piper’s website, Desiring God.

If focus is anything, it is demanding. We escape with distractions.

I console myself: Even Jesus had to get alone. He knew He needed the solitude that came with being alone with His Father, seeking Him, waiting for Him, depending on Him—replenishing what had been depleted.

I must have fellowship with the Lord. If I do not learn to be silent before Him, I will not have fellowship. I will be in fellowship with my phone, my friends, my family, my books, my television. I will be in fellowship with everything except my Father.

He wants to be with me. This is His desire. And it is my deepest desire to be in His presence as often as possible. I want to be in fellowship with His written Word. In fellowship with His Spirit. In fellowship with the realities of kingdom living. In fellowship with the true and living God.

Solitude—being detached and set apart—is a life-changing discipline that His children should practice. Solitude is like being in a tiny, private chamber with room for only two—you and the Father. It is the place we can hear His heart, feel His love, know His will with certainty, and see our own sinfulness in contrast to His holiness. It’s the place that proves He is the most important thing in our lives. “And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples” (Mark 4:34). What a privilege, to have the Lord explain things to us.

Enter the quiet place to hear what Jesus is saying. Awe and reverence will be cultivated right there.

Father, we know we’ll find You in the quiet place. As Your own Word has said*, may we aspire to lead a quiet life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

* 1 Thessalonians 4:11