Out of Solitude by Henri Nouwen uses Mark 1:32-39, Mark 6:32-34, and John 16:16-22 as a platform for meditations on Jesus’ use of solitude in His ministry.

Introduction

I was drawn to Out of Solitude by Henri J. M. Nouwen for two reasons:

1. We have been studying Matthew in Sunday school, and the topic of Jesus deriving His power from moments of solitude was an area I wanted more information about.
2. I am going through a season where I feel this title in my soul. I know that the way God designed me was to spend time with Him and take my strength from there; but too often I don’t do that.

Rating

8.5 out of 10 – This is a short but powerful book. I found myself underlining something from nearly every paragraph. That said, Nouwen used Scripture to jump into a topic, and then rarely returned to Scripture. It does not make what he said incorrect, but it always gives me pause when an author or speaker does this (and, since these meditations were taken from speeches given by Nouwen, I suppose it’s both in this instance).

Genre

Devotional

Setting

n/a

Summary

[taken from Amazon.com]

Drawing on three moments in the life of Jesus, Henri Nouwen invites us to reflect on the tension between our desire for solitude and the demands of contemporary life. He reminds us that it was in solitude that Jesus found the courage to follow God’s will. And he shows us that fruitful love and service must spring from a living relationship with God. Beautifully written, elegantly simple, Out of Solitude is as fresh today as it was thirty years ago.

Quotes

[taken from Goodreads.com]

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”

― Out of Solitude

“When we start being too impressed by the results of our work, we slowly come to the erroneous conviction that life is one large scoreboard where someone is listing the points to measure our worth. And before we are fully aware of it, we have sold our soul to the many grade-givers. That means we are not only in the world, but also of the world. Then we become what the world makes us. We are intelligent because someone gives us a high grade. We are helpful because someone says thanks. We are likable because someone likes us. And we are important because someone considers us indispensable. In short, we are worthwhile because we have successes. And the more we allow our accomplishments — the results of our actions — to become the criteria of our self-esteem, the more we are going to walk on our mental and spiritual toes, never sure if we will be able to live up to the expectations which we created by our last successes. In many people’s lives, there is a nearly diabolic chain in which their anxieties grow according to their successes. This dark power has driven many of the greatest artists into self-destruction.”

― Out of Solitude

Conclusion

I read Out of Solitude on a plane ride. It is a quick read, and I found myself highlighting almost the entire thing. It was something I needed in the moment. A good reminder that the power to live in the Spirit is derived from our relationship with God. That relationship is often cultivated in solitude.