WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:00.880 Amen. 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:02.479 Well, good morning, Sacred Mission. 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:03.919 Awesome. 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:04.799 My name is Justin. 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:10.240 I'm one of the pastors here, and it's my joy and privilege to be able to bring you God's word this morning. 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:14.000 We are celebrating baptisms today at both gatherings. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:16.960 And so we're thankful that you're here to celebrate with us. 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:23.760 And we are in a series that we're calling Holy Habits, Strength Through Discipline. 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:35.200 And so we've been looking at different spiritual disciplines that we should be working to cultivate and foster in our life that we might be strengthened in our faith. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:40.320 Because we want to be a supplemented strength for others, right? 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:47.600 We tend to have this consumeristic uh lens when we think about church, how can it best benefit me? 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:54.560 How can the programs, the groups, the ministries, the teaching, the what music, all these things, how can they benefit me? 00:00:54.719 --> 00:01:06.719 But what we need to do is think the way the scriptures teach us to think, that we should actually be thinking about the glory of God and the good of others and how is our presence working to that end, right? 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:14.000 To to bring glory to his name and to be this good, this supplemented strength in the life of others. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:20.480 And so this morning we're gonna be looking at the spiritual discipline of solitude. 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:21.760 Solitude. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:25.760 Now, here's what I want to put before us as we dive in. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:35.439 I I want to submit that pain, pain might be the most common experience that humanity is able to share. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:39.040 We've all experienced pain in our lives, right? 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:44.640 We're all familiar with its suffering, its heartache, trial, and loss. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:48.799 Its presence of affliction is one we've all known. 00:01:49.040 --> 00:02:02.879 Often our afflictions can be very overwhelming, causing us to be so fixated on them that we lose all sense of hope that things could ever truly be better than they currently are. 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:21.840 The presence of afflictions brings with them emotions like anger, fear, worry, anxiety, stress, self-preservation, all feelings and states of being that impair our relationship with God and with others, right? 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:42.319 If you can relate to that, when you're experiencing affliction, when you have pain in your life, it tends to impair your relationship with the Lord and your relationship with those around you because these emotions are flooding in and we're typically responding to them in very unhealthy ways. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:49.520 Pain is this loud noise that demands our attention. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:59.360 And if not handled rightly, it has the ability to overwhelm us and to crush all sense of hope that you and I have. 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:06.960 Now, the prophet Jeremiah, who wrote the book of Lamentations, was very familiar with pain. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:12.960 As he suffered the affliction of an entire nation under the judgment of God. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:17.039 His lament over these afflictions that they experienced. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:20.560 It was like a eulogy for a funeral. 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:24.159 These laments, they're intended to mourn a loss. 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:29.520 And in his case, it was the loss of an entire identity, a nation of people. 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:49.599 In chapter three of the book of Lamentations, where we're parked at this morning, shows us that the purpose behind the book's graphic depictions of sorrow and suffering was to renew their hope in the steadfast love of God. 00:03:51.199 --> 00:04:02.800 And it's in the silence of solitude that Jeremiah is able to escape the noise of his affliction and have his hope renewed. 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:08.800 So if you have a Bible or an app, open it to Lamentations chapter 3, Old Testament. 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:12.719 If you're not familiar with that, we're in the first half of the Bible. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:17.519 Lamentations chapter 3, verses 19 through 28. 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:21.439 So we're gonna start with 19 through 20. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:28.720 It says this Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:34.480 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:38.959 Man, verse 20, I think, speaks to the reality of pain. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:47.199 When we're experiencing affliction in our life, right, it is continually remembered within us. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:56.399 Our mind, our heart, our soul is overwhelmed with its presence, the noise that it creates in our life. 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:02.879 We can often get stuck in this cycle where all we can do is think about what we're suffering, right? 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:11.120 We can only have this feeling, an overwhelming sense that nothing's going to get better, and you're just stuck right here in this painful moment. 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:14.240 Jeremiah understood that. 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:21.439 He even says his soul to be bowed down. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:32.319 This unbearable feeling that hope has been lost, that that something better is outside of his reach. 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:40.399 You know, sometimes our faith gets muted by the noise of the affliction that we're facing. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:48.160 It seems to drown out, it seems to be placed in the background, and we begin to doubt things in our life. 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:51.279 We begin to doubt our sonship with the Father, right? 00:05:51.439 --> 00:06:01.120 That you're a child of our Heavenly Father, that we have this unity with Him, and we've been reconciled to Him and been brought near to Him because of His love and affection. 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:10.800 No, He seems far off, He seems distant to us, and we feel abandoned, like we were orphaned rather than brought in and adopted as a son. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:14.160 We begin to doubt our redemption through Jesus. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:21.680 That He had paid the price for us to be reconciled, that we might be able to approach the throne of grace. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:26.560 No, we feel like it is too far of a chasm to come back to Him. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:33.040 And the promise of something eternally better seems wishful thinking. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:44.000 But solitude provides for us this necessary space to honestly face our pain. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:57.759 Rather than continually being cycled in the noise of our affliction, solitude allows us a space to honestly face our pain and suffering, our disappointment and spiritual despair. 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:04.879 Because it's in solitude we're able to be fully ourselves, fully before God. 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:06.160 Right? 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:21.279 When we surround ourselves with other people all the time, when we're always around others and we're in their company, there's this pressure for us to act as if everything's okay, or that you've got it all put together, or that you're not suffering as much as you really are. 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:24.160 You try to put on this front in front of others. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:34.879 Solitude allows us the space to be able to be fully ourselves in the rawness of our pain, fully before God, and we give everything to him. 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:41.600 Verse 21, he says this, Jeremiah, what are we gonna do in the midst of this solitude? 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:48.319 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:52.480 This is the turning point of the entire book of Lamentations. 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:55.120 Here's what Jeremiah is doing. 00:07:55.439 --> 00:08:01.519 In solitude, he's calling to mind the character of God. 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:10.000 Because the character of God is more true and real than the circumstances that he's facing. 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:21.120 And so he's doing this practice of willfully calling to mind everything that he knows to be true about God, even in the midst of his current experience. 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:24.879 You see, away from all these external distractions. 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:38.480 When we practice solitude, we can actively choose to call to mind God's steadfast love rather than remaining these trapped in these cycles of despair. 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:42.879 But call to mind is actually a little weak for the translation. 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:48.320 It's actually better translated that he called his heart to remember. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:09:00.559 He caused what he knew to be true about God, his steadfast love, his mercies that are new every morning. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:13.360 He caused them to return to his heart because the affliction that he had been facing caused his heart to faint and to be hopeless. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:21.919 And so he had to do something to remember who God was even in the midst of his suffering. 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:29.279 He makes it come back into his conscious thinking so as to flood and strengthen his very heart. 00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:41.200 You see, hope is renewed when we allow our mind and our heart to be filled with the remembrance of God's eternal, unchanging character. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:48.240 Like, this isn't to dismiss what you're going through right now in this moment. 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:53.360 This is to put something more real and true above it. 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:55.039 Who is God? 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:57.279 Is God faithful? 00:09:57.600 --> 00:09:59.679 Does God love us with a steadfast love? 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:01.600 Is his mercy new every morning? 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:02.960 Is he gracious to us? 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:05.200 Has he purchased us with the blood of his son? 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:07.440 Has he secured for us our redemption? 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:13.519 Has he promised us an eternal kingdom that is better than anything that is before our eyes in this moment? 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:16.559 Is he true and better? 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:29.120 And the silence of solitude creates this sacred space where we're able to cause our hearts to return to that truth despite what we're facing. 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:32.480 He goes on in verses 22 through 23. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:33.679 What does he call to mind? 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:35.759 What does he fill his heart with? 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:42.799 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end. 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:44.480 They are new every morning. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:46.960 Great is your faithfulness. 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:59.360 You see, he says that what I'm going to call to mind in the midst of my affliction is the eternal, unchanging character of God. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:12.480 And he begins, the very first thing that he fills his heart with is the relentless, never failing, always and forever that love of God that he has for his children. 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:23.600 You see, this steadfast love, we've talked about this a lot of times here at Sacred Mission because it's such a prominent theme throughout all of Scripture. 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:36.000 When God shows his relationship, his covenant relationship between himself and his people, it's described by this Hesed, this steadfast love that he has. 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:38.240 And we we define this, right? 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:46.000 We define this steadfast love by the steady intention of the will to another's highest good. 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:51.519 The steady intention of the will to another's highest good. 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:58.399 Here's what Jeremiah wants to remind himself of in the midst of this severe affliction that he's facing. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:03.759 God loves me out of his own good pleasure. 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:12.879 He has made a choice to set his affections upon me, and in doing so, he is working all things for my ultimate good. 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:24.559 He has to remind his heart of that truth first and foremost because of the loudness of his afflictions, trying to cause his faith to be lost. 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:31.360 He goes on, his mercies never come to an end. 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:35.039 You see, solitude positions us. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:45.279 It positions us to both perceive and to receive these daily mercies that we might otherwise miss in the busyness of our life. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:59.600 When we're always surrounded by people, when we're always busy with tasks, when we've always got something else to do or some other place to be, we can miss the beauty of his mercy that is new to us every morning. 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:04.159 It can be lost in the very noise of our circumstances. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:07.039 And what is mercy, right? 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:10.000 We tend to confuse grace and mercy. 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:13.600 Grace is receiving what we do not deserve. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:17.759 God's uh favor, his blessing, his love, right? 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:18.559 That's grace. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:24.480 We we we receive from him that which we do not deserve because of our sin and rebellion. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:29.360 Mercy is that we do not get what we deserve. 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:40.480 We deserve his justice, we deserve his wrath, we deserve his punishment, but Christ bore that in himself on the tree so that we might be removed from it. 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:49.279 And so we receive in Christ his eternal mercy, that we do not get what we deserve. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:52.240 And so this is what we have to remember in that. 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:59.200 The afflictions that we face as a child of God, it is not punishment. 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:03.039 Rebels are punished, children are disciplined. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:16.320 What this is, when we experience suffering and trials and affliction in this life, we are experiencing refinement of our faith expressed in loving discipline from a Father. 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:22.240 Church, we should be strengthened and renewed. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:28.080 We should have hope resparked with inside of our very being. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:32.960 When we contemplate how his mercy is new to us every morning. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:37.440 This morning I woke up and I did not get what I deserved. 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:40.879 I got him instead. 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:44.080 And then this resolve. 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:54.240 He has nothing else to say but great is your faithfulness. 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:58.960 Great is your faithfulness. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:11.039 The resolve of a heart that has called to mind the eternal, unchanging character of God is he is faithful. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:18.080 He is faithful to his people, but more importantly than that, he is faithful to his own word. 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:21.039 He is faithful to his namesake. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:29.200 You see, who who God is and the reputation of his name are inseparable realities of one another. 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:32.240 God is what his name declares him to be. 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:43.679 And so what we can have hope in, what we can have trust in, is that God, above being faithful to you, will be faithful unto himself because his namesake is on the line. 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:51.600 Great is your faithfulness to your promises, greatest faithfulness to your covenant, greatest faithfulness to your own name, Lord. 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:55.039 And in that, great is your faithfulness to me. 00:15:55.759 --> 00:16:02.960 Because out of your own good pleasure, you have chosen to graft me into that pursuit of your own glory. 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:16.480 And so, no matter what we're facing, in our current circumstances, we can resolve to both know and be in constant awe of his faithfulness. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:23.200 You see, this discipline, it creates this sense of receptivity, right? 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:49.440 When I'm able to pull myself away from all the noise of my afflictions, and I'm able to be fully myself, fully before God, I'm able to receive and to recognize God's own ongoing faithfulness, even when the circumstances I'm facing tell me that I should just continue to be without hope, that I should continue to be in despair, that there's no way that this is ever going to get better. 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:51.840 I'm just lost in this noise. 00:16:53.759 --> 00:17:01.840 Verse 24, Jeremiah says this the Lord is my portion, says my soul. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:05.119 Therefore, I will hope in him. 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:07.279 The Lord is my portion. 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:13.599 This statement we see throughout the Old Testament, the Lord is my portion. 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:17.680 But it's actually derived from the tribe of Levi. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:26.480 You see, when God had brought his people out of Egypt through the Exodus, he had promised them a land to be given to them. 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:33.359 And he would give each tribe a portion of the land that was their inheritance. 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:39.839 But he looked at the tribe of Levi, who was anointed and called to serve him in the priesthood. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.559 And he said, Levi, your tribe is not going to get an inheritance of land. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:46.880 No, I'm going to be your inheritance. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:48.880 I'm going to be your portion. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:58.000 And so this phrase was something that was embraced by God's people, that it doesn't matter what stuff I have or don't have in this life. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:01.279 If I have him, I have all the portion that I need. 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:03.839 If I have him, my soul is satisfied. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:14.240 If I have him, I have an inheritance that is an unfading glory, that I might have him and know him and be with him, the Lord is my portion. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:17.680 And Jeremiah says, this is what my soul declares. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:33.359 It's this beautiful truth that he is fully sufficient and satisfying for our souls, no matter what we hold or do not hold within our hands. 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:39.279 You see, this is the fruit of solitude. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:51.359 A deep and effectual realization of God's complete and total satisfaction for our soul. 00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:58.640 Do you ever wonder why we continue to try and pursue stuff in this life? 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:04.799 Sometimes it's just us trying to quiet the noise of the affliction we're facing. 00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:09.680 Like I don't know about you, but when I'm struggling, I like to buy stuff. 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:11.759 Anybody relate? 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:12.559 Yes. 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:14.400 I only see women nodding their head. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:16.960 That concerns me somewhat. 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:21.680 But I do like to buy food and I like to buy other stuff, right? 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:24.559 But but here's here's what I constantly find. 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:31.279 When I'm struggling, I'm trying to find something else to satisfy me. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:48.000 And it's often in those moments I haven't taken myself out of the noise of my circumstance to be alone with the Lord, to have some type of time and space to be reminded that he is fully satisfying to my soul. 00:19:50.480 --> 00:20:09.279 You see, the beauty of solitude is that when we're there fully ourselves, fully before God, we're stripped of everything else that we've sought to try and satisfy us, but we come up empty and shallow. 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:18.880 No, what we do in that moment is we discover God Himself as our portion, our inheritance, our sufficiency. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:27.680 And so solitude leads us to this radical reorientation that our hearts so desperately need. 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:32.559 Because we're often just whipped up in this storm of chaos. 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:45.359 And we need this time to be still before Him and to be reminded of His love, of His mercy, of His faithfulness, that He alone is our portion. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:54.960 Because we all face the reality that in the midst of our affliction, our hope it fades. 00:20:56.319 --> 00:20:57.759 Our hope fades. 00:20:58.079 --> 00:21:03.519 And so hope is renewed in the silence of solitude. 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:06.880 Hope is renewed in the silence of solitude. 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:08.640 This is what he said in verse 24. 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:11.839 Therefore, I will hope in him. 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:14.720 Verses 25 through 28. 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:16.480 We'll continue in the passage. 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:22.720 He says this the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:26.960 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:30.480 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:35.440 Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him. 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:44.559 Here's what I want us to see in verses 25 through 28 is both the habit and the purpose of solitude. 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:46.960 Let's start with the purpose. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:49.920 The purpose of this is for renewed hope. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:51.519 It's for renewed hope. 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:59.680 When we go before God, our hope is renewed as we call to mind and fill our hearts with the reality of his eternal, unchanging. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.200 Character. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:02.480 Right? 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:04.079 And what is hope? 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:08.400 Hope is the expectation of good. 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:12.960 Hope is the expectation of good. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:22.240 This confident expectation of the fulfillment of God's promises based on his character and his work. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:27.440 And we can be so removed from that, right? 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:32.960 Our eyes can be turned to only be focusing on the circumstances in front of us. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:40.400 And when we do that, when we have this loud noise of our affliction, it mutes our faith, it diminishes our hope. 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:45.759 We don't really believe that there's something better that we should be expecting. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:55.519 But when we're able to be there still before the Lord, we're able to meditate on his promises. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:58.160 We're able to meditate on his character. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:03.279 We're able to meditate on his work through his son. 00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:10.160 And this eager expectation of good begins to rise back up within us. 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:14.160 Now, what do we mean when we say about the habit of it? 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:19.359 So if the purpose is to renew our hope, the habit of it, let's define solitude, right? 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:25.359 Could be. 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:27.039 I'm not saying don't do that. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:30.640 I'm saying if that's your normal habit, we should talk. 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:35.359 But uh here's how I want to define solitude for us this morning. 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:45.839 Intentionally withdrawing from distractions to create sacred space alone with God for heart transformation and to renew hope. 00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:53.839 Intentionally withdrawing from distractions to create sacred space alone with God for heart transformation and renew hope. 00:23:54.160 --> 00:23:57.359 You see, this is what this discipline involves. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:23:58.720 Twofold. 00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:20.720 It involves withdrawing away from people, distractions, busyness, tasks, but it also involves withdrawing to, withdrawing to God, communion with the triune God in this intentional time of silence and solitude. 00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:24.079 You see, it's not retreating from our afflictions. 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:25.119 It's not what we're doing. 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:26.799 We're not running from something. 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:28.480 We have to understand that. 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:36.799 We're not running from our pain, we're not running from our circumstance, we're not trying to hide and retreat from the things that are happening in our life. 00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:40.480 No, what we're doing is we're retreating into God. 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:49.039 That our hope might be renewed, that we might step out of that time of solitude and persevere in faith. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:52.000 That's the point of all of this. 00:24:52.240 --> 00:25:02.400 It's so that we can be a supplemented strength in the presence of others, that we can persevere in this life, that we don't go on hopeless. 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:10.480 I love how the pastor and author Eugene Peterson talked about this discipline of solitude. 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:18.480 He says this solitude is not withdrawal from life, it's a way of entering more deeply into life. 00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:23.440 Man, we live distracted. 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:27.039 There is noise everywhere. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:37.839 We're constantly bombarded with people, things, tasks, trials, sufferings, all this work that still has to be done, right? 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:41.200 We're constantly swimming in noise. 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:56.319 When are we taking the time to withdraw from distraction and withdraw to God that we might find life, renewed hope, strength that seems missing? 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:04.720 You see, this directly connects to solitude as an active spiritual posture. 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:07.519 This isn't passive resignation. 00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:10.240 This isn't just taking a nap. 00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:20.559 This isn't just setting up your Bible perfectly in the window pane with your coffee and then taking an Instagram picture and then stepping back and making sure how many likes you got. 00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:23.039 Y'all ever do that? 00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:24.160 Just me. 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:25.440 Okay, cool. 00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:30.799 This is expectant waiting. 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:38.960 You see, he says in the text that we should wait for him. 00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:42.559 The Lord is good to those who wait for him. 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:50.480 This Hebrew concept of waiting, kava, it involves tension and expectation. 00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:55.920 The best way that we can understand this word is a rope pulled tight. 00:26:56.240 --> 00:26:58.480 There's this tension that's in that waiting. 00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:01.680 We're not just sitting there, right, passively. 00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:14.480 No, there's an anticipation for God to meet us where we are in the midst of our affliction, in the midst of our circumstances, and we have this eagerness that hope is going to be renewed. 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:25.359 Seasons of difficulty, when they're embraced with solitude in God, they become formative to us. 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:27.200 They shape us. 00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:30.079 They help us mature in Christ. 00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:38.799 They allow us to feel something more than the suffering we're currently going through. 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:52.160 And so suffering can transform, or solitude can transform suffering from this meaningless hardship into spiritual discipline that shapes our character. 00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:57.839 And verse 28 gives us the physical posture of solitude. 00:27:58.640 --> 00:28:03.599 Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him. 00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:07.759 This imagery suggests complete surrender. 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:36.319 It suggests this humility before God, a kind of radical submission that only solitude can cultivate when we're removed from the need to respond to the noise, when we're removed from the need to have to defend ourselves before others, when we're able to be fully ourselves, fully before God. 00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:39.440 So we have to get away from the noise. 00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:49.359 So that what we know to be true about God in his relationship and covenantal love with his people might be recalled and remembered in the silence. 00:28:51.359 --> 00:29:00.799 But almost all of us, I would say, in this room, we've experienced this to be true that the noise of our affliction causes hope to be lost. 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:04.640 We often become hopeless people. 00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:05.759 Right? 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:11.759 We look at the world around us, we look at what's happening within politics and the news, right? 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:16.400 We see what's even happening to our own self and the relationships that we have. 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:23.119 And there's this sense of hopelessness that continues to try and overwhelm our soul. 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:36.400 And for some odd reason, we continue pushing into the noise rather than trying to escape it in this habit of solitude. 00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:47.680 You see, we have to intentionally withdraw from these distractions that God might meet us in this sacred space of silence, or else there's going to be consequences to us. 00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:48.400 Right? 00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:51.759 Some of us, we we drown in the noise. 00:29:52.319 --> 00:29:53.599 We drown in the noise. 00:29:53.839 --> 00:30:07.359 Man, if you're a person that when you lay your head down at night, you just can't stop thinking about all the hardship and trials and suffering that you're being afflicted by. 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:20.319 If you wake up in the morning and your soul just feels overwhelmed and bent over within yourself, if you're just constantly meditating on the noise of your affliction, right? 00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:21.119 This is you. 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:24.559 Do you ever feel yourself just drowning in it all? 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:28.960 So overwhelmed, feeling crushed by it? 00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:35.759 You see, we become overwhelmed underneath all of this noise, and it causes us to lose hope. 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:39.920 Here's some emotions you probably fear a lot, you feel a lot. 00:30:40.079 --> 00:30:47.119 You probably feel fear all the time, worry, anxiety, right? 00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:51.920 These are the feelings of someone who is drowning in the noise. 00:30:53.279 --> 00:31:01.039 We hyperfixate on our afflictions and we allow their noise to take permanent residence in our minds and hearts. 00:31:01.200 --> 00:31:08.640 We're meditating on them more than we're stopping in this solitude of silence to meditate on Him. 00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:13.599 And then we're our own worst enemies too, right? 00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:16.079 We're constantly going through the news feed. 00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:22.480 Like if that's not the most hopeless thing you can do to yourself, like just read headlines, right? 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:30.799 Our social media, where we're constantly comparing ourselves to others, we're constantly not measuring up, we're constantly seeing all of the pain. 00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:42.319 And if you're if you're an empathetic person, not only are you dealing with your own suffering, but then you're taking on the pain and suffering of others unnecessarily at times, you don't even know this person. 00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:45.200 You don't even remember how you became friends with them on social media. 00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:47.359 But you're like, oh man, they're going through a really hard time. 00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:48.559 I'm gonna take that on myself. 00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:50.880 Oh, geez, this is horrible. 00:31:52.160 --> 00:31:53.839 It happens a lot. 00:31:55.759 --> 00:32:04.960 You aren't getting out of the noise, you're going deeper into it, and you're wondering why you can't keep treading water. 00:32:06.960 --> 00:32:21.759 You see, without solitude's stabilizing influence, we become increasingly reactive to external circumstances, the moods and emotions that we're feeling. 00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:35.119 We lose the ability to process our experiences in healthy ways that are spiritually driven, that remind us of who He is and what He has accomplished for us. 00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:48.079 And what we do instead is we allow all of these circumstances to accumulate as unexamined burdens. 00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:53.039 We haven't taken the time to process them before the throne of grace. 00:32:53.279 --> 00:32:56.799 We haven't taken the time to allow the Spirit to speak to them. 00:32:56.960 --> 00:33:08.480 We haven't allowed the time to be still before Him and allow our own self and our circumstances to be rightly examined before His holiness. 00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:11.359 So, what does that do? 00:33:11.519 --> 00:33:16.000 When they go unexamined, it distorts our perspective. 00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:19.519 Everything's bad, everything's horrible. 00:33:21.519 --> 00:33:23.440 It's a hopeless reality. 00:33:24.160 --> 00:33:27.279 And it drains us of our spiritual life. 00:33:28.160 --> 00:33:30.880 But some of us, we're not those type of people. 00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:34.880 The people I'm gonna talk to next, you think those people are weak. 00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:39.119 Because what you do is you try to fight through the noise. 00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:43.359 It's never gonna get me, it's not gonna take me down, I'm gonna fight through it all. 00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:46.160 I can endure, I can persevere. 00:33:47.119 --> 00:33:47.519 Right? 00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:52.559 We try to push through and we try to persevere in our own strength. 00:33:52.640 --> 00:33:55.599 But here's the emotions you're dealing with all the time. 00:33:55.839 --> 00:34:05.119 You're always angry, you're always stressed, and you're always trying to fight for self-preservation, your own good rather than the good of others. 00:34:06.720 --> 00:34:08.400 Can you relate to that? 00:34:10.480 --> 00:34:11.679 And what happens? 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:14.480 You and I, we inevitably we grow weary. 00:34:16.559 --> 00:34:25.920 We grow weary and tired, and so inevitably we succumb under the relentless noise of our affliction. 00:34:26.480 --> 00:34:29.519 Because that noise is never going to stop. 00:34:31.280 --> 00:34:34.400 Until we reach glory, that noise is never going to stop. 00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:38.559 Here's what you will experience: you'll experience changes in the volume. 00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:47.599 There'll be times when it's a little bit quieter than it was last week, and there's going to be times where it just feels like it's going through the biggest speaker you can possibly imagine. 00:34:47.679 --> 00:34:53.039 It feels so overwhelming and so crushing, but that noise is not going to stop. 00:34:53.199 --> 00:34:57.760 And so you cannot fight your entire life against it. 00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:05.119 You're not that strong, you're not that courageous, you're not that full of faith. 00:35:06.320 --> 00:35:08.559 You can't just keep fighting. 00:35:09.760 --> 00:35:12.000 And so your hope suffers. 00:35:15.519 --> 00:35:21.679 Because there becomes a point and time of our life where we even question our own ability to endure. 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:23.760 Can I keep fighting this? 00:35:24.480 --> 00:35:25.360 Can I keep going? 00:35:25.440 --> 00:35:26.079 And what do we do? 00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:34.960 We retreat, but we don't retreat in this spiritual solitude, this beautiful practice of uh of uh spiritual discipline. 00:35:35.119 --> 00:35:37.679 No, we retreat in isolation. 00:35:38.639 --> 00:35:46.639 We retreat to a video game, we retreat to porn, we retreat to alcohol, we retreat to what name it. 00:35:46.800 --> 00:35:47.840 You know what that is? 00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:55.039 That's tired men who've tried to persevere through the noise in their own strength and they realize they can't keep going. 00:35:57.519 --> 00:35:59.039 That's what that is. 00:36:02.960 --> 00:36:09.840 All of us we face this reality of affliction in our life in different ways, but we all face it. 00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:40.559 And what the Lord calls us to as his people is this sacred space where we are able to be holy ourselves, fully before him, and allow our circumstances, allow our heart, allow this life to be examined before his holiness and to be renewed in the hope of his promises. 00:36:42.880 --> 00:36:43.840 And we're not doing that. 00:36:43.920 --> 00:36:48.000 And we're and we're wondering why we have all these unhealthy emotions all the time. 00:36:57.119 --> 00:37:01.119 But as always, we need to look to Jesus for our actual hope. 00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:03.760 Because it's not in this guru. 00:37:04.800 --> 00:37:07.760 Is this spiritual discipline good and healthy and beautiful? 00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:08.400 Absolutely. 00:37:08.559 --> 00:37:09.360 Should we pursue it? 00:37:09.519 --> 00:37:14.719 Yes, but our hope is not alone in how well we do these spiritual disciplines. 00:37:15.119 --> 00:37:16.960 Our hope is in Christ. 00:37:17.679 --> 00:37:22.559 Christ Jesus, who was crushed under the shouts of affliction. 00:37:24.559 --> 00:37:38.320 You see, what we see throughout the life of Jesus is this regular rhythm and practice of solitude that allowed, I believe, Jesus to persevere in all hope. 00:37:38.639 --> 00:37:47.920 He was always going to desolate places to be with the Father by Himself in this discipline of solitude. 00:37:48.159 --> 00:38:03.760 And Jesus persevered all temptation, he persevered all affliction, he persevered all perceived hopelessness because his hope was continually renewed as he was before the father. 00:38:04.400 --> 00:38:11.199 We saw him do this early in the morning, going to be with his father in this desolate place. 00:38:11.599 --> 00:38:20.880 We saw when he was experiencing intense ministry, he would retreat and go to be renewed and restored in him. 00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:29.920 And even times of extended periods where he would go away for days and weeks just to be with the Father. 00:38:30.719 --> 00:38:33.840 And he persevered in all hope. 00:38:34.559 --> 00:38:47.599 And in the solitude of the Garden of Gethsemane, we see Jesus' hope strengthened to be persevering even under the loudness of his upcoming affliction. 00:38:47.920 --> 00:38:51.360 He went away by himself in the garden. 00:38:51.599 --> 00:38:53.840 And the Father met him there. 00:38:54.800 --> 00:38:57.199 And what did he experience immediately after? 00:38:57.360 --> 00:39:05.360 But the shouts of affliction, the cried, the crowd crying out, crucify him, mocking him, jeering at him. 00:39:06.320 --> 00:39:17.440 And they killed him, crushed under all the noise, crushed under the wrath of the Father, crushed in our place. 00:39:18.880 --> 00:39:35.440 And I think what is so beautiful is that on the third day, in the silence and solitude of a different garden, Christ triumphed over death in the grave, and he rose again to eternal life. 00:39:37.519 --> 00:39:40.079 This is the beauty of the resurrection. 00:39:41.440 --> 00:39:50.320 That our hope was fully secured in the silence and solitude of a garden. 00:39:51.119 --> 00:39:55.039 That we would be children of God. 00:39:57.360 --> 00:40:02.400 And so my prayer for us, Sacred Mission, is that in renewed hope we would wait for Him. 00:40:02.800 --> 00:40:04.800 In renewed hope, we would wait for Him. 00:40:05.280 --> 00:40:06.559 Here's what we need to see. 00:40:06.800 --> 00:40:14.159 When we're practicing the holy habit of solitude, man, here's some things that we can do in that sacred space. 00:40:14.559 --> 00:40:15.760 We can pray. 00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:18.880 We can petition God. 00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:21.199 We can commune with Him there. 00:40:21.440 --> 00:40:26.239 We can be fully ourselves fully before Him. 00:40:26.480 --> 00:40:30.159 And even in that, we can have this time of self-reflection. 00:40:30.559 --> 00:40:31.760 Who am I? 00:40:33.840 --> 00:40:34.719 What am I doing? 00:40:35.119 --> 00:40:36.079 What is my heart like? 00:40:36.239 --> 00:40:38.239 What is my mind believing? 00:40:39.519 --> 00:40:44.480 We can read and meditate on scripture and God's character and promises. 00:40:45.760 --> 00:40:48.480 But, church, it's also okay just to be silent. 00:40:49.119 --> 00:40:51.920 Just to be present, just to be there. 00:40:53.920 --> 00:40:57.360 Because we're going to continue to experience affliction in our life. 00:40:57.519 --> 00:41:01.519 The noise is going to continue to persist. 00:41:03.360 --> 00:41:23.039 And if we're going to persevere and we're going to persevere in hope, it's going to be because we've taken the time to be still before Him and call to mind, call our hearts to remember the beauty of his eternal, unchanging character. 00:41:23.840 --> 00:41:25.119 He loves you. 00:41:26.320 --> 00:41:28.480 His mercy is new for you. 00:41:29.840 --> 00:41:32.159 Great is his faithfulness to you. 00:41:33.280 --> 00:41:36.800 Let's close with this scripture from 2 Corinthians 4. 00:41:38.480 --> 00:41:42.159 The Apostle Paul writing says this, so we do not lose heart. 00:41:43.039 --> 00:41:50.639 Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 00:41:50.880 --> 00:42:01.280 For this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. 00:42:01.840 --> 00:42:06.960 As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. 00:42:07.679 --> 00:42:13.280 For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 00:42:13.519 --> 00:42:14.159 Amen. 00:42:14.559 --> 00:42:14.960 Amen.