When Loneliness Is Good

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Luke 5:16

I work in one of the upper floors of a very large building. I was told the year it was built, it was the largest building project in the state of Vermont. It is big enough to be easily spotted from the window of a passenger jet when I am flying overhead. Though not as grand as the pyramids, or China’s Great Wall, it is a reminder of the great things humans can accomplish.

It is also a subtle reminder of the big things I am expected to accomplish as part of my job. This testimony to human accomplishment suggests my salary, the food on my table, and my career success are each dependent upon my human labors. There is an implicit (and sometimes explicit) pressure on me to “produce” and this pressure can easily lead to stress.

Jesus “often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Jesus, while fully divine, also took on the fullness of humanity. During the years of his public ministry, he faced no shortage of demands. To say he was busy would be an understatement. Yet, Jesus took time to leave the crowds. He found refreshment in “lonely places.”

One important aspect of these lonely places was certainly a freedom from distractions. When we are alone, away from the crowds, it is easier to listen to God, and concentrate on what he might be trying to say to us. We can pray, or read scriptures, or just sit and listen, without constant interruption.

But there is another important element about the “lonely places” of Luke 5:16 or the “quiet waters” of the 23rd Psalm. The root word translated as “lonely place” in this passage is ERÉMOS. It can refer to a desert, or an uncultivated wilderness. Of course such places are usually quite lonely and that may be the main point. These wilderness places are not dominated by human construction and feats of engineering or even human cultivation. They are not landscapes that constantly remind us of human achievement and self-reliance.

Rather, they are places we can see more readily what God has made—how beautiful and permanent it is, and how God provides for that creation. In these places, for a moment at least, we see that everything does not depend on us.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: How do you think being in a lonely place was refreshing for Jesus? Where do you go to find a lonely place to reflect on God’s handiwork? What does the word “wilderness” mean to you? How does being alone provide an opportunity for reflection? What is the difference between things made by God and the great accomplishments made by human hands?