NOMOPHOBIA - describes a psychological condition when people have a fear of being detached from mobile phone connectivity.

Our lifestyles leave no time for what our souls need most.

Solitude - Creating quiet for your soul to know and be known by God.

As humans we feel

 We are wired to avoid emotional pain.

Psalm 46:10

“Be still, and know that I am God!

1 Kings 17:1

Now Elijah. . . told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”

1 Kings 19:2–8

So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them.”

Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. . . Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day.

He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree.

. . .  an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!”

Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.”

. . . the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. 9 There he came to a cave, where he spent the night.

1 Kings 19:9–14

. . . But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

 “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied again, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

• Resting—solitude allows the soul to catch up.
  
• Waiting—solitude allows us the space for soul care.
  
• Feeling—solitude gives us the courage to name our emotions.  
  

“Solitude is not a private therapeutic place. Rather it is the place of conversion, the place where the old self dies and the new self is born...

In solitude, I get rid of my scaffolding: no friends to talk with, no telephone calls to make, no meetings to attend, no music to entertain, no books to distract, just me, naked, vulnerable, weak, sinful, deprived, broken- nothing.

It is in this nothingness that I have to face in my solitude, a nothingness so dreadful that everything in me wants to run to my friends, my work, and my distractions so that I can forget my nothingness and make myself believe that I am worth something…”

-- Henri Nouwen

• Hearing—solitude positions us to hear God.  
  

1 Kings 19:13

When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

• Perspective—solitude changes a heart. Elijah was wrong.
  

1 Kings 19:18

Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him!”