The Daily Devotional Podcast

Abide in Action - 2 | Luke 5: 15-16

• Waypoint Church

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This reflection explores the practice of solitude, showing how Jesus regularly withdrew from the demands of ministry to spend intentional time with the Father. It challenges believers to embrace quiet, unhurried space where God can search, shape, and restore their hearts, reminding us that abiding requires making room for His presence amid the noise of everyday life.

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“May the Lord bless you and keep you — and may His presence guide you this week.”


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Today I'm reading Luke 5, verses 15 and 16. But despite Jesus' instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases.

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But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer. The second practice, and maybe the most difficult one we're looking at, is solitude.

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There were a lot of examples to choose from here, but I think this one expresses the point well. Jesus often withdrew into the wilderness for prayer. This one can be really hard for us in a couple different ways. The first being logistically. We're a really nonstop sort of people. Value gets measured in efficiency and productivity, both internally and externally. But for solitude I'm supposed to just stop doing things? The second is solitude itself. For many of us, myself included, being left alone with your thoughts can be daunting at best. Some of you may remember my crazy choice to spend time alone in the mountains. Yet we're supposed to just dive into that pool. Yes and yes. Jesus clearly thought this was an important practice, which I think is reason enough. But I think the very questions I just asked show us why we should follow his example. How easy is it to be completely swept up in the rigmarole of life? To be on the roller coaster of ups and downs and stop feeling like you're really living your life. A regular and purposeful practice of solitude helps to break the monotony, slow us down, and allow us to rest. It reminds us that God is sovereign and that we are his. As for the second question of dealing with the solitude itself, we spent the last few weeks talking about bringing every single aspect of ourselves before God. Honesty and boldness to approach him with our pain, anger, sadness, brokenness, and whatever else might be lurking in the depths. It's these very things that the Spirit is weeding out. So take to heart the words of Psalm 139. Search me, O God and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, see if there's any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. I know I said a couple of ways, but there's a secret third piece to this puzzle. There's a high correlation between the moments we're told Jesus sought solitude and what had just taken place. When we experience great and powerful spiritual moments, it's not usually our first reaction to go seek solitude. Yet throughout the gospels this is exactly what Jesus does. He even tells his disciples in Mark six to do the same. After sending them out to preach, heal, and cast out demons, they return and excitedly tell him everything that had happened. His response was to lead them away to a quiet place and rest. I am not recommending that you walk into the wilderness by yourself. Solitude can look far simpler than that. Maybe there's a quiet park not far from your house. Maybe you have a favorite beach or a grassy hill. The place doesn't matter nearly as much as the posture of your heart. We all have busy lives, so your practice may look different from the next person's. But I think we all need to take this to heart as a genuine part of following Jesus. My challenge to you is this whether it's weekly, monthly, quarterly, or simply whenever you experience a significant spiritual moment, follow Jesus' example. Be purposeful, be present. Create space to simply be with your Father.

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He is waiting with open arms. Before I close in prayer, here's a question to wrestle with.