The spiritual discipline of silence and solitude was practise by Jesus, Elijah, Moses, David, John the Baptist, Paul and by countless other key biblical figures, not to mention godly men and women all through the centuries.
Yet, in our 21st century world of constant noise and distraction, the twin disciplines of silence and solitude seem so deeply old-fashioned and countercultural that they have all but fallen by the wayside.
But have we made a big mistake? Have we thrown out the very spiritual disciplines that are needed more than ever in our noisy, frenetic distraction-filled, modern lives?
In this article, we will explore 7 reasons why Christians should still practise the spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude – and why they are needed more than ever!
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1. Jesus practised silence and solitude
Jesus is our ultimate role model.
We often talk about wanting to be more like Jesus, more Christlike, more godly.
We even wear wristbands with WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) on our wrists and yet we don’t take steps to actively copy Jesus.
If we want to be more like Jesus, we need to live how Jesus lived!
We need to copy his behaviours, his rhythms, his habits and routines.
And one Jesus’ core habits was silence and solitude.
It states clearly in the Scriptures that:
“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” – Luke 5:16 (NIV)
And there are many other places in the Gospels where this habit is highlighted:
For example:
“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.” – Mark 1:35 (NIV)
“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.” – Matthew 14:13 (NIV)
In fact, Jesus considered this discipline so important that it was the very first thing he did at the start of his public ministry:
“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.” – Luke 4:1-2 (NIV)
If we want to be like Jesus, if we want to be more Christlike, if we truly want to live a WWJD life…
… we need to practise silence and solitude.
READ MORE >>> What is the spiritual discipline of silence and solitude?
READ MORE >>> How to practise the spiritual discipline of silence and solitude
2. Other key biblical figures practised silence and solitude
Jesus is by no means our only role model for the spiritual discipline of silence and solitude.
The Bible records many examples of key biblical figures practising this discipline.
Moses spent 40 days on Mount Sinai alone, in the cloud of God’s presence (Exodus 24:18).
David spent a lot of time alone with God: in his youth as a shepherd boy and hiding in caves while fleeing for his life from the jealous King Saul.
Elijah, after his big showdown with the prophets of Baal, spent time alone in the wilderness and on Mount Horeb, when God did not appear in a violent wind, an earthquake or a raging fire, but in a “gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19).
John the Baptist spent a significant portion of his life alone in the wilderness. In Luke it states that he…
“…grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.” – Luke 1:80 (NIV)
And, after his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus, the Apostle Paul didn’t jump straight into public ministry, but rather spent three years in the solitude of the Arabian desert (Galatians 1:15–17).
3. It allows us to go deeper in our relationship with God
When we spend time alone with God, it allows us to develop a deep, intimate relationship with him.
For example, in the Psalms, God gives us this instruction:
“Be still, and know that I am God” – Psalm 46:10a (NIV)
The word “know” here is the word yada in Hebrew and means so much more than mental awareness or head knowledge.
Yada implies having a deep understanding of who God is, based on an intimate relationship with him and personal experience of his character and actions.
We cannot hope to gain this deep understanding of who God is and this intimate relationship with God if we do not spend time in silence and solitude.
It’s the same with any relationship.
Imagine a married couple who never spent any time alone together, just talking and listening to each other. That marriage would definitely not grow deeper and stronger. At best, the marriage will be weak and shallow. At worst, the marriage will end in divorce.
In the same way, if we don’t spend time alone with God, just talking to him and listening to him, our relationship will not grow deep and strong. At best, our relationship with God will remain weak and shallow. At worst, we will walk away from the relationship altogether.
However, when we do spend time alone with God in silence and solitude, we learn who God truly is, and our relationship with him grows deeper, stronger and more intimate.
And as we get know God better, we will learn to trust him more deeply, we will understand his character and actions on a deeper level, and ultimately, we will grow to be more like him.
4. It allows us to know ourselves better
But it’s not just God that we get to know better when we spend time in silence and solitude. We also get to know ourselves better.
When we spend time alone with God, we start to see ourselves, not as the world sees us, but how God sees us.
We get a better understanding of whose we are and who we are.
And we get a clearer sense of God’s plan for our lives.
We see this time and time again in the Bible.
For example, when Jacob spends time alone wrestling with God, he is given a new name and a new identity. His name is changed from Jacob (meaning “deceiver”) to Israel (meaning “one who wrestles with God”), giving him a renewed identity as the patriarch of the nation of Israel rather than a man defined by his past deceit (Genesis 32:22-32).
When Elijah spends time alone with God on Mount Horeb, God gives him a clearer perspective on his personal situation and clear instructions about what to do next.
While Isaiah 6 is one of the most powerful biblical examples of an encounter with God completely redefining a person’s identity and launching their life’s purpose. When Isaiah is given a deeper understanding of who God truly is, he also sees himself for who he truly is and cries out:
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” – Isaiah 6:5 (NIV)
But in that moment God transforms his identity, from “ruined and unclean” to “forgiven and purified” and gives him clear instructions for what will become his life’s work.
Which brings us neatly to…
5. It allows us to hear God more clearly
When we spend time with God in silence and solitude, we begin to hear God more clearly.
One of the problems with our 21st century way of life is it is so full of noise, we often cannot hear God over the noise.
Many Christians complain bitterly that God never speaks to them… But more often than not, the problem is not that God is not speaking, it’s that we’ve not turned the volume down enough on life to actually hear God!
We are filling our lives with so much noise, distraction, busyness and activity, that we miss what God is saying to us.
God often speaks in the same gentle whisper as he used when he spoke to Elijah on Mount Horeb:
“The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’” – 1 Kings 19:11-13 (NIV)
If we want to be able to hear that gentle whisper, we have to cultivate a habit, just like Jesus did, of regularly actively choosing to spend time in silence and solitude, alone with God.
If we don’t we may never hear God’s gentle whisper over the constant hubbub of modern life.
READ MORE >>> Unplugging as a spiritual discipline
6. It gives rest to our souls
In a world that never stops, our souls desperately need rest.
Interestingly, even secular scientists and health professionals recognise that our bodies and nervous systems are not built to handle the constant flood of digital information that we are exposed to in the 21st century.
As one study puts it:
“Chronic low-level stress from constant media exposure can keep your nervous system in a heightened state for hours, disrupting sleep, impairing concentration, and contributing to feelings of hopelessness or persistent worry.”
Ironically, many of the ways people try to deal with these symptoms actually exacerbate the problem. For example, doomscrolling, compulsive checking of notifications, gaming for hours on end and binge watching Netflix.
The real antidote to these symptoms is given to us in the Bible:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28 (NIV)
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.” – Psalm 23:1-3 (NIV)
True rest for our souls is found when we spend quality time with God, when we spend time alone with God in silence and solitude.
When we turn off the noise of our phones, TVs, radios, YouTube channels, podcasts, streaming platforms and games consoles, and come into the presence of God, God ministers to our souls, he restores our souls, he refreshes our souls and he gives our souls the rest they so desperately crave.
Spending time in silence and solitude brings peace, clarity and a renewed focus on what truly matters.
7. It sustains us in the rest of life
There is one very important mistake to avoid when it comes to the discipline of silence and solitude: we are not supposed to stay there!
It’s very easy to get so excited about silence and solitude that we want to spend too much time there.
But we see quite clearly that that is not God’s intention.
We see that vividly in the life of Jesus.
He had a life-giving habit of spending quality time alone with the Father.
But then he left the quiet place (AKA the eremos) and spent time in community, doing the work that the Father had given him to do.
We see that in all the other examples too: Elijah, Moses, Isaiah, Paul, John the Baptist… none of them were told to stay in silence and solitude.
They stayed there for a time, and then God sent them back out into the world with jobs to do.
And it’s the same for us.
We need that time in the eremos.
We need that time alone with God, getting to know him better, learning to trust him better, getting to know ourselves better.
But then God sends us out into the world with jobs to do!
The time in the eremos is essential in equipping us to do those jobs well.
The time in the eremos will help us be better humans in the world.
But we must not stay in the eremos permanently.
We have jobs to do!
READ MORE >>> What is the spiritual discipline of silence and solitude?
READ MORE >>> How to practise the spiritual discipline of silence and solitude
Final Thoughts
There are many good reasons to practice the twin spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude.
- Jesus practised silence and solitude
- Many other key bible figures practised silence and solitude
- It allows us to go deeper in our relationship with God
- It allows us to hear God more clearly
- It allows us to know ourselves better
- It gives rest to our souls
- And it sustains us in the rest of life
We need silence and solitude to be able to truly be the people God wants us to be, but we mustn’t stay there – when we’ve spent time in the eremos, we need to get back out into the world and do the specific things God has called us to do there.
Recommended books on silence & solitude
- The Ruthless Elimination Of Hurry – John Mark Comer
- The Solitude Practice – John Mark Comer
- Invitation to Solitude and Silence – Ruth Hayley Barton
- The Way Of The Heart – Henri Nouwen
- 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You – Tony Reinke
READ MORE >>> Recommended books on silence & solitude
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