Away on Retreat
Why do I take personal, spiritual, sabbatical retreats?
I mean, the short version is, I need them. I've learned by my own experience, and by the experience of other pastors, that you need to schedule retreats and take them before you really need them. So I try to.
The long version involves stuff about the unique and different stresses of pastoral work. Just like every foot wears out shoes in a slightly different manner, so every work wears on the soul in a slightly different way. And the soul needs to be restored (re-souled! resoled!).
And the normal way God restores the souls of His people is through the various operations of the church, worship, fellowship, prayer and Bible study. But all that is the work of church leaders. As I said, it's somewhat unique.
Listen to Isaiah 30:15-18:
For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength..."
Every one of us--myself included and foremost!--needs to practice the turning around described here as "returning," the stopping of my regular work, here described as "rest," the shutting of my inner and outer chatter in order to listen "in quietness" and to set aside "my own understanding" and "trust" the LORD for strength.
But you were unwilling, and you said, "No! We will flee upon horses"; therefore you shall flee away; and, "We will ride upon swift steeds" therefore your pursuers shall be swift. A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill...
The people of Israel, like every one of us--just like me too--struggled with this invitation. And more often than not we join them in flat-out refusal. As if the solution to our griefs and frustrations were to do what we're doing with greater intensity, hurry, and pressure. But, as the LORD says through Isaiah, what will happen is that "at the threat of five, you shall flee." In other words, you'll become so anxious and fragile, so weak and angry, that you'll suddenly find yourself in a panic, a rage, despair, a situation where you hardly know yourself.
Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. (Isa 30:15-18)
Did you notice that? The LORD waits to be gracious to you... blessed are you who wait for Him. This is the essential saving and strengthening truth about God: He is here for us, with grace, to show us mercy, to bless us. And this is the essential saving and strengthening truth about ourselves too: we need it, yes, and we're going to need to wait for Him for it. It's what we need, absolutely. But it won't come on our terms, in our time. No, but "in returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." Amen.
It's in the hope of this we gather on Sundays and throughout the week. It's in the hope of this we draw within ourselves before the LORD daily in prayer and Bible reading. And it's in the hope of this that I head out for a few days of silence and solitude.
Pray for me, friends, as I pray for myself, my family, for you and for us.
Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash