The Cave Invitation: Why Being Alone With God Is the Key to Growing Up in Faith
- 1 day ago
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What if the silence you've been avoiding is actually God calling your name? In a world that constantly fills every gap with noise, notifications, and distraction, solitude can feel uncomfortable — even threatening. But what if that discomfort is exactly where spiritual growth begins? This message from 1 Kings 19 is an invitation to step into the cave — and find God waiting there.
What Can We Learn From Elijah's Breakdown?
Elijah was not an ordinary person. He confronted kings, called down fire from heaven, and witnessed some of the most breathtaking miracles in the Old Testament. And yet, just after his greatest victory, we find him under a bush in the wilderness, suicidal, utterly spent, saying, 'I've had enough!', 1 Kings 19:4.
Burnout doesn't discriminate. Elijah's collapse reminds us that spiritual highs don't immunise us from emotional lows. After running from the death threat from Queen Jezebel, he eventually ends up at Mount Horeb — Mount Sinai — and retreats into a cave. Not as a failure, but as someone being tenderly led by God into a place of stillness and honesty.
When God asks Elijah 'What are you doing here?', it's an invitation to be honest. To allow what's really going on inside to surface.
Why Do We Avoid Silence?
The uncomfortable truth is that most of us are pretty effective at avoiding solitude. We reach for our phones, put on a podcast, turn up the music, or lose ourselves in busyness. If or when pain surfaces, we might respond in one of three ways:
- Deny it — 'This isn't a problem. I'm fine.'
- Detach from it — 'I'll just not think about it.'
- Distract from it — Scrolling, snacking, staying busy, numbing the pain by taking a painkiller — anything to avoid sitting still and sitting with our pain.
The Simpsons demonstrate some of these bahaviours in this snippet (taken from Season 1, Episode 6, 'Moaning Lisa') .
These aren't villainous responses. They're very human ones. But they're also immature ones — and they keep us stuck because we never actually deal with the pain we experience.
What Does the Iceberg Have to Do With Your Faith?
Pastor and author Pete Scazzero uses the image of an iceberg to describe our inner life. The part above the water is our visible, public self — our church attendance, how well we know the Bible, our outer, obeservable life. But beneath the surface lies the greater part of who we are: our inner thoughts, motivations and posture. Our wounds, disappointments, unprocessed pain, and even our hidden fears.
“It’s impossible to be spiritually mature, while remaining emotionally immature” Pete Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
Scazzero argues — and this is important — that true discipleship must integrate our emotional health with our spiritual life. We can't just keep polishing what's above the water and ignore the two-thirds beneath. We can't avoid the things underneath influcing what is expressed above.
Solitude is one of the most powerful ways to begin doing that work. When we sit in silence before God, things surface. And rather than reaching for a distraction, we can process those things with God — honestly, openly, just as Elijah did in the cave (and in the 40 day walk leading up to it).
How Do You Actually Begin Practising Solitude?
Practicing solitude does not mean that we all need to go and live as hermits.
Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. He will only do harm to himself and to the community. But the reverse is also true: let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
This quote was written whilst Bonhoeffer was leading an underground church which was prohibited by the Nazi regime in the late 1930s, wisely pointing out that we need both community and solitude — neither extreme is healthy. I wonder if for most of us, the balance has tipped too far away from stillness.
Here are some simple ways to begin:
- Start small.
Even five minutes of genuine quiet is a beginning. Put your phone out of reach. Sit. Be still.
- Acknowledge God's presence.
Simply say: 'God, you are here. I'm here to meet with you.'
- Notice the things that surface in your thoughts.
Don't fight the thoughts. Write them down if it helps.
- Be honest.
Tell God how you actually feel — the pain, the confusion, the things that hurt. A third of the Psalms are lament. You're in good company if you're feeling troubled.
- Ask Him for wisdom.
Once you've named what's there, invite God to speak into it.
Life Application This Week
God's invitation is simple: *Come away with Me.* This week, why not respond? Why not try solitude with God, or extend your experience of it? On Sunday 5th July, Nathan shared recent experience of this invitation from God, proposing that 'cave-time' is an crucial part of our ongoing spiritual growth.
The cave isn't a place of defeat. For Elijah, it was the place where God showed up in a new and unexpected way. It might just be the same for you.
