Recently I’ve been reflecting on the significance of the quiet place, which is also sometimes referred to as time alone with God, quiet time, being still, going to the mountaintop, and why it was so important during Jesus ministry on Earth, and is equally important for us today. I would like to share some of those reflections in this blog post.

In Psalm 23:2, we read that God, as a Good Shepherd, lets us lie down in green pastures and leads us beside still waters, or quiet waters as some translations put it. What is the significance of this? As a Shepherd, God understands that sheep can be quite skittish, i.e. wary, nervous, uneasy, anxious. God does not want His sheep to be that way. This is why for them to rest, He does not lead them to a place where the water is gushing or cascading down forcefully. Rather He leads them to a place where the water is still, quiet, peaceful. The Good Shepherd does not want His sheep to feel fearful or uneasy, and He does what He can to enable them experience quietness in their soul. Hence Jesus gifting us with His peace (John 14:27), and the Bible asking us to live peaceably with all, as much as it is within our power to do so (Romans 12:18).

God wants us to have peace both internally and even externally, as demonstrated by Him leading His sheep to still waters. However there may be times when the externals in our lives are not exactly peaceful, when life takes us along choppy waters. Even in such times though, we can still have peace inside, the kind of peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7). This kind of peace comes from being still and knowing that God is God (Psalm 46:10). The NET Bible translates Psalm 46:10 as, “Stop your striving and recognize that I am God! I will be exalted over the nations! I will be exalted over the earth!” When we take the time to be still, to know and understand just who our God is, that knowledge will automatically bring us peace, irrespective of the scale of the storm around us.

What else can happen during these times alone with God? Mark 7:31-36 tells us the story of Jesus’ healing of a deaf man with a speech impediment. In this case, the man might not have heard about Jesus, seeing as he was deaf. And he might not have been able to cry out to Jesus, seeing as he could not talk. However, some people kindly brought this man to Jesus and begged Jesus to heal him. What was the first thing Jesus did in that situation? “Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone” (Verse 33).

Have you ever wondered why Jesus led the man away from the crowd first? If you think of the kind of crowds that followed Jesus, you can imagine that it might have taken a while for Jesus to lead the man out of the crowds. As such, why would Jesus take all that time to do so, when He could have just quickly healed the man and gone on His way? After all Jesus was actually on His way somewhere before this man was brought to Him (verse 31).

Now we are not expressly told why, but it is possible to make certain deductions, especially given that Jesus healed other people among crowds, without drawing them aside. The man obviously could not hear all the noise from the crowd while he was still deaf, but this story shows just how beautifully gentle and wise Jesus is. He knew that for a deaf person hearing for the first time, the cacophony of sounds from such a crowd would be quite intense and overwhelming. Even if they were a well meaning crowd (which they were, after all they were the ones who brought the man to Jesus), their shouts of rejoicing would have been a lot to take in for someone who was hearing for the first time. As such, before even attempting to heal the man, Jesus was already thinking of the man’s future healed state. Truly God is a God who knows and declares the end from the beginning! (Isaiah 46:10). This story teaches me that sometimes, when God is drawing me to a quiet place where I can be alone with Him before I receive answers to my prayers, He is likely doing so because of His great mercy, for my own good. The quiet place can therefore be a place of much needed preparation for a desired future. I should add that there might be other reasons why Jesus chose to heal this way, reasons we may not know about, but this may just be one of them.

The quiet place allows us to really hear God’s voice over and above the din of the crowd. Have you ever received a phone call in a noisy environment, and you quickly had to look for a quieter place to hear the person at the other end properly? You probably did that because the surrounding noise made it difficult to hear and process what the person was saying. This is how it can be with the noise around us.

This may be why Jesus made it a habit to go away and be alone with His Father (Matthew 14:22-23, Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16). Luke 5:16 (CEV) says “But Jesus would often go to some place where he could be alone and pray.” Jesus could have prayed to His Father anywhere, and He often did so even in the midst of crowds (John 11:41-42, Luke 9:16), but there were times when He knew he needed that intimate, one-to-one time. It should be noted that it was a habit, something that He did “often”, not once in a blue moon. This practice is so important that when Jesus was teaching the disciples about prayer, it was one of the main things He emphasised. “But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6, NLT).There is no particular formula for where it needs to be, but what is key is having that time where it is just you and God, with no, or at least very few distractions.

We might say that we are too busy, there’s no time, etc, but that is precisely when we need to come away to a quiet place. In Mark 6:30-32 (NLT), “The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told Him all they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and His apostles didn’t even have time to eat. So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone.” You can imagine how busy they were, so busy that they did not even have time to eat! And what was Jesus’ response? Let’s go to a quiet place and rest a while. Bear in mind that they were also grieving, as just before this, John the Baptist had just been killed. Therefore Jesus knew, more than ever, that they really needed that quiet place. In our darkest moments, where do we go? To the gods of this world, or to the one true God?

When we go to God, He can replace the confusion, the commotion in our minds with clarity. There is indeed a lucidity that comes with being quiet in God’s presence. Imagine being in a place where there is a really noisy machine in operation, and it’s been going on for hours. Then suddenly the machine is switched off. In that moment, you can hear the birds singing again, the leaves rustling, the clock ticking. None of those sounds stopped when the machinery was in operation, they were merely drowned out by the noise. This is how it can be when it comes to hearing what God has to say. I have heard it said that God is always speaking, but we aren’t always listening. There is indeed so much around us that can drown out God’s voice. Which is why we have to be intentional about having the time, space and place where we can close the door to the noise of the World and open our hearts to the voice of God. The quiet place truly has a lot of benefits, and I will outline a few below.

The quiet place brings contentment. David said in Psalm 131:2 (NIV), “But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.” When we take the time to be still before God, we realise just who is in control (hint: it’s not us). That realisation can bring peace and contentment. For it is usually in the quiet place that we find the courage to let go and let God.

The quiet place is where we can obtain strength to continue our journey. Isaiah 30:15 (ESV) states, “For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.””

When running a long distance race, there will usually be water stations along the way. These offer runners a chance to pause and hydrate. If a runner chooses not to stop and hydrate because they want to finish the race quicker, what will likely end up happening is that, thanks to dehydration, they will lose stamina. This may mean they won’t actually finish any quicker as a result. These moments in the quiet place can be like water stations. We need them to refuel, to strengthen ourselves for the journey, to boost our ability to keep going. Without these, we may either not last as long as we could have, or be as effective as we should be.

Time alone with God can bring joy as well. Psalm 16:11 (ESV) notes, “You (God) make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 21:6 (BSB) also says, “For You grant him blessings forever; You cheer him with joy in Your presence.”

The quiet place deepens our intimacy with God. There is a level of intimacy that sometimes comes when it’s just you and someone else together for a considerable amount of time. I’ve heard stories of strangers stuck in a lift for hours who somehow end up discussing pretty intimate stuff after a while. Why is that? There is something about giving time and space to someone that draws them into your space, and you into their space. James 4:8a (NLT) says, “Come close to God, and God will come close to you.” In a two minute conversation, you can barely get past a ‘How are you? Fine. Oh look, the weather is nice’ discussion with someone. However when you spend enough time with a person, it is amazing just how much you can learn about them.

This is how it can be in our relationship with God. Quality time spent reading God’s Word, meditating, talking to Him, listening to Him with open hearts and minds can enable us to really know and understand God’s heart, plans, purposes, and His will. In Jeremiah 29:13 (BSB), God says, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” This verse implies that there is an action that needs to be taken on our part, that of seeking God wholeheartedly. This implies that you must be fully committed to seeking Him, with everything you are and have. Sure we can find God even in the noisiest storm, but will we hear His voice in that storm, if we don’t quieten our minds to listen? God can be dishing out all the wisdom in the world, but if we aren’t taking the time to listen and act on it, what then becomes of such wisdom?

Intimacy with God can be truly beautiful and refreshing. Being in a place where we empty our hearts and minds from what the world has deposited inside us, and allow God to fill us up instead. When this happens, we can only begin to imagine the magnificent transformation He can work in us and around us. I pray that as we reflect on this, we will be stirred to find and often visit that quiet place where we can be still and know that He is God. That He is a good, powerful, loving God who cares for us and is eager to spend time with us. As we do so, may our intimacy with God deepen, and may we experience His tenderness, strength, wisdom, peace, contentment and joy. Amen and Amen.

This song, Behind the Veil by Juanita Bynum, is worth a listen.

Image source here.