Matthew 4:1-11 Discipline of Solitude

The discipline of solitude scares a lot of people. Many of us are not used to being alone with only ourselves or our thoughts as company. Social media is always just a fingertip away. One of the things I’ve noticed over the past 10 years is that there are more people struggling with loneliness, even though they have 600 friends on Facebook, or talk until 2 am on Snapchat. Lots of us have a lot of acquaintances, but few or no close friends; people we can safely share our deepest thoughts, dreams, or fears with.

Sadly, many of us have been hurt or betrayed by others after sharing private stuff because we trusted them. I’ve walked alongside young girls who were pressured to share themselves with boyfriends and then got hurt deeply when their private stuff got shared with others. Others have been bullied and abused, often online where it’s more hidden, leading to loneliness and even depression. Solitude is then unwelcome, unwanted. They simply want someone who understands, who cares. They don’t know if they can ever trust again, yet still want someone to be close to. Close relationships, trusting relationships are built through spending time together, by being together with each other regularly and often to learn trust, even with God.

Richard Foster, Henri Nouwen and other writers on soul care teach that, “Jesus calls us from loneliness to solitude, that our fear of being alone… drives us to noise and crowds.” They describe loneliness as inner emptiness and solitude as inner fulfillment. This inner fulfillment comes from a deeper relationship with God that comes from spending time in quietness and solitude in order to listen to God. This is why God calls us in Psalm 46 to “Be still and know that I am God.” We get it, when we meet someone we like and want to get to know better, we don’t go to noisy clubs with music pounding and vibrating through our bodies, we find quieter places where we can talk and learn more about each other. Maybe my age is showing here.

Jesus practiced solitude on a regular basis during his time here on earth. Our passage this morning is simply one of the many times the Bible tells us about Jesus heading into the wilderness or other quiet places in order to find a time to be alone with God and listen to his Father’s guidance. The Holman Bible Dictionary tells us that, “People in biblical times mostly feared the desert as a place inhabited by beasts of prey, snakes, and scorpions even demons to which one might drive out the scapegoat. So it was appropriate as a place for Jesus’ temptation.” In our story this morning, Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit right after his baptism by his cousin John into the wilderness to be tested. The wilderness in Jewish thought is connected with the 40 years of wandering after their miraculous escape from Egypt. Whenever they told the story of how God saved them from Egypt, they called the dessert “the great and terrible wilderness.” In the wilderness, God provided manna, quail, and water from the rock. He led them in the wilderness, protected them, and gave them his law so they would know how to be his people. But the wilderness is also connected to rebellion against God.

For Jesus, the wilderness becomes a place of testing. Jesus represents Israel going into the wilderness to meet God, to be shaped by God, to learn obedience, as Luke mentions in his gospel. In the wilderness there’s silence from the noisiness of people, there’s silence to listen to God and hear him, time to study God and his Word in his creation to know God better, a place where life slows down from its busyness. The wilderness is where you go to be changed and shaped by God. God invites us into the wilderness through the prophets. Jeremiah 2, “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: “This is what the Lord says: “‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,’” declares the Lord.” The wilderness is where Israel learns trust, learns of God’s love for them.

For Jesus, it’s 40 days to fill his mind with his Father’s Word so that when the testing comes, he’s prepared. Testing comes for all of us. The word here in the Bible can be translated as either tested or tempted; it often feels the same. These are the times where we find out how deep our faith has settled into our hearts and minds; how much we’re allowing the Holy Spirit to shape us into who God is calling us to be. The times of testing show us how much we trust God. When the first time of testing happened in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, they chose to trust the serpent and follow their own desires, trusting that they knew better than God what was best for them. It’s the same for us.

Jesus came to be tested. He shows us how to trust God’s plan for our lives by filling ourselves with his words. Jesus is tempted by Satan to take other paths to do God’s plan, but they all call Jesus to set aside his trust in the Father, to trust words other than God’s words as the best way. In his time of solitude in the wilderness, Jesus prepared for this by filling his mind and souls with God’s words, building his trust and faith through filling himself with his Father’s words and will. Jesus is shaped by solitude; by seeking God’s presence in the quiet places of the wilderness. Jesus trusts his Father all the way to the cross, trusts the Father’s way to deal with our sin and make us right with God again is the best way.

Temptation and testing are always just around the next corner. Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, is tempted to turn and take another path, but in trust and faith tells his Father, “Not my will, but your will be done.” Jesus takes the path to the cross and is raised up three days after his death to show that sin and death are overcome. We’re saved to do good works prepared for us to do to show our gratitude to God. We’re being renewed by the Holy Spirit to be like Jesus. The Holy Spirit reminds us of Jesus’ words so we will trust Jesus who gives us strength to go through the times of testing. Satan acknowledges Jesus as the Son of God; Jesus shows himself as the Son of God through his response and faithfulness to his father in spite of the temptations. His time in the wilderness prepared him well to respond to Satan and reject him.    

Solitude offers the opportunity for study and reflection, for prayer and times of simply being in the presence of God, being aware of who God is and who we are as his children. But solitude is a discipline, it takes hard work to take the time to be silent, to be alone. Yet we don’t need to find a cabin in the mountains or a monastery to practice the discipline of solitude. The corner of a coffeeshop where no one knows you, spending time walking on the walking trails, even setting aside a place in your house where you can be alone for a bit. If your house is crowded, setting aside a chair where, whoever is sitting in it must be left alone for 10 minutes so they can pray or simply be still. If you are able to actually take a day to get away with your Bible, perhaps a devotional book, for artists, getting away with paint and brush, with a camera, or pencil and paper to listen and respond to God’s moving in your life is a blessing that will strengthen you for times of temptation and testing. Keeping a journal of what comes to you helps you to continue to reflect on where you see God at work in your life and around you.

Solitude gives us space and time to examine our character and who we are and then invite the Holy Spirit in to help us change to be more like Jesus. It gives us an opportunity to reorient ourselves to Jesus. It helps us with setting goals for the future, whether short or long term. Richard Foster puts it this way, “God delights in showing us exciting new alternatives for the future. Perhaps as you enter into a listening silence the joyful impression to learn how to weave or how to make pottery emerges. Does that sound too earthy, too unspiritual a goal? God is intently interested in such matters.”

Solitude helps us in our relationships as we come away more attuned to Jesus and his compassion, drawing us to others, helping us to be more than we are now. Solitude helps us be more aware of God’s presence, teaching us to trust God’s way for us.