Hope Covenant Church | Solitude

         Isiah 55:6-7


Seek the LORD while he may be found; 
   call on him while he is near. 
Let the wicked forsake their ways 
   and the unrighteous their thoughts. 
Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them, 
   and to our God, for he will freely pardon.


        Mark 6:30-32


The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

The message from the sermon this week was about solitude. Pastor Evan explained that solitude is time alone with God. Not necessarily time alone. The key is to quiet your mind, remove the distractions around you and listen to the Lord. This is incredibly hard for me. I struggle to quiet my mind. I struggle to force the thoughts of the day out of my mind. I have a hard time letting go of the tasks I need to do to complete the promises I have made for the day. The struggle that I have is this. 


Do I schedule time to have solitude?


If I schedule time for solitude, I may not need solitude when it is scheduled. I may need solitude now. The problem is when I need solitude, I don't have time for solitude. The challenge was offered that not having the time is only an excuse. I don't necessarily believe that this in entirely true. Like many people, my life is like a roller coaster. I have to hurry, hurry, hurry. Then I have down time. Then I have to hurry again. Life is either crazy or calm. There is no daily grind where each day has the same amount of time critical tasks that need to be completed in a day.


 I would welcome time for solitude, but that would mean that another task would be left uncompleted. A promise unfulfilled. It seems that in the times of "hurry" I need solitude most. This problem is part of a thing called life. I am not blessed in a job where my actions are not time critical. When my average client arrives, they are in a time of crisis. They need help immediately. I would love for comments about how you find solitude with God. 


 I think that you, the readers, can help in this situation. I also ask you to subscribe to this blog and follow it. As always, I welcome your comments on this post and all the others. I also would ask that if you would like to guest blog, email orlandhope@gmail.com with your post and I will do my best to get your post published. If you would like to gain a closer relationship with the Lord, visit us at:


Hope Covenant Church
14401 West Avenue
Orland Park, IL 60462-3112
(708) 873-3640


JWC