Solitary Confinement

            Solitary confinement is a form of punishment that is used in prison systems around the world. Why is this? It is a form of punishment because as human beings we are not created to live in isolation from one another. As human beings we are created to be in relationship: relationship with each other, and relationship with our creator. When you force someone to spend time in solitary confinement, you are removing all sort of connections with other human beings, and it can be excruciating.

            So does that mean that all times of solitude and silence mean it has to be punishment? A short answer is No! In fact, Solitude and Silence are disciplines in which someone can use to help draw themselves closer to God. In fact, in Solitude and Silence, one is forced to deepen their connection with their creator, God. In Solitude and Silence we can put away all the distractions of everything around us and we can focus on God. When we pray, it doesn’t always have to be an audible prayer, we can pray in silence, in our thoughts.

            Everyone in their lives needs to have times of solitude and silence. This may seem like this isn’t true for everyone, but it is essential. Even for myself, I am an extrovert, and I too need to have times of Solitude and Silence. As extroverts we get our energy from being around other people. But even the most extroverted extrovert needs to have some times of solitude and silence. Take last week as an example. Last week I had the privilege to be with 22 other people for the entire week. We lived in the same place. Ate at the same tables. We worked at the same places. We were around each other pretty much 24/7. As an extrovert, I feed off of that kind of environment. But yet, every night, I needed to take the time to withdraw a bit from the crowd and spend some time reading my book. So as much as we are all created to be in relationship with each other, we are also created in such a way that we need to have our own times of solitude and silence.

            Donald Whitney shares in his book a story about Susanna Wesley, the mother of John (founder of the Methodist movement) and Charles (prolific hymn writer). She raised a very large family, and in those years she found it virtually impossible to find times of physical isolation. So she took to taking her apron up over her head and then she would read her Bible and pray. When her apron was over her head, it was a signal to the rest of the family that it was her quiet time and they were not to bother her.

            There are many different ways in which we can practice the discipline of solitude and silence. It is a difficult thing to think about, because we are all too busy. As missionary martyr Jim Elliot knew of the struggle said, “I think the devil has made it his business to monopolize on three elements: noise, hurry, crowds…Satan is quite aware of the power of silence.” As technology increases, it is becoming harder and harder to find times of silence. We can carry with us hours and hours of music on tiny devices. We can turn on the radio or TV almost anywhere. We can look at the internet and find video after video. It is difficult to find time for quiet space.

            Yet, it’s important to do so. It is important as Jesus himself modeled it for us. Time after time Jesus would withdraw from people and crowds and go to a solitary place to focus on God. One study I read had 23 different accounts of Jesus going off to a solitary place to be with God. If Jesus, God himself, needed to withdraw to find time to be alone with God, how much more do we need to find time to be in solitude and silence with God our father?

A Hunger for God

             I felt hungry a lot today. I think one of the reasons why I felt so hungry was I was thinking a lot about fasting. The funny thing is, I wasn’t even fasting, I was thinking about fasting and the spiritual discipline of fasting. Even just thinking about fasting made me hungry.

            This coming Sunday we will be looking at the discipline of fasting. Fasting as a spiritual discipline is probably one of the most non-practiced disciplines of all the disciplines. Even myself, I will admit that I do not fast on a regular basis. I can probably count on one hand the amount of times that I have actually fasted as an act of spiritual discipline in my lifetime. I wonder why that is? Why is it that fasting is something we as Christians do not practice? Some may argue that biblically it isn’t talked about that much. But according to Donald Whitney in his book on spiritual disciplines, fasting is mentioned in the Bible more times than baptism is mentioned. (Whitney says fasting is mentioned 77 times, and baptism is mentioned 75.)

            A lot of us don’t practice fasting because we don’t necessarily see how it can help at all. Many of us don’t like the effects fasting has on us, headaches, hunger pains, grumpiness, irritability, etc. Yet, there are many times in our lives that we will forego a couple of meals within a particular day because we are too busy in the activities that we are doing: shopping, playing sports, running errands, etc. But to do it specifically for a spiritual purpose, we are afraid of trying it.

            Fasting as defined by Whitney is: “abstinence from food for spiritual purposes.” He goes on to argue that any fasting without a specific spiritual focus to it is not true Christian fasting. Fasting is abstinence from food for a spiritual purpose, how so? One way fasting can be a benefit to us in our relationship with Christ, is that fasting may sharpen our times of prayer. Whitney uses an example of fasting as a reminder to pray. If we have a purpose to our fasting, whenever we feel any hunger pains or any side effects of fasting, it will remind us of why we are fasting and the purpose of that fast.

            Whitney says, “For instance, if your purpose is to pray for your spouse, then every time your stomach growls or your head aches, your hunger reminds you that you’re fasting, which in turn reminds you that you’re fasting for the purpose of praying for your spouse – and then you pray.” Fasting can be used to help us with other disciplines, but it needs to have a purpose.

            Here are the ten biblical purposes that Whitney has come up with for the purpose of fasting:

                       1.      To strengthen prayer – Ezra 8:23

                       2.      To seek God’s guidance – Judges 20; Acts 14:23

                       3.      To express grief – Judges 20:26; 1 Samuel 31:13

                       4.      To seek deliverance or protection – 2 Chronicles 20:3-4

                       5.      To express repentance and the return to God – 1 Samuel 7:6; Jonah 3:5-8

                       6.      To humble oneself before God – 1 Kings 21:27-29; Psalm 35:13

                       7.      To express concern for the work of God – Nehemiah 1:3-4; Daniel 9:3

                       8.      To minister to the need of others – Isaiah 58

                       9.      To overcome temptation and dedicate yourself to God – Matthew 4:1-11

                       10.  To express love and worship to God – Luke 2:37

As with the other disciplines, fasting is not to become something that we become legalistic about or proud as the Pharisees were doing in Jesus day. (See Matthew 6) Fasting is to have a spiritual component, a “God centered purpose – not a self-centered purpose” says Whitney. As we fast, we realize that we can survive on more than bread alone, and that our savior, Jesus Christ, even describes himself as “the Bread of Life.” When we are physically hungry during a fast, we are reminded of our dependence on God as our only source of nourishment for our souls.