The Noise We Call Normal

Devotional week 23

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Mark 1:35 (NIV)

Most of us check our phones before our feet touch the floor. It happens without thought—the habitual reach for the device, the immediate intake of messages, news, and notifications. Before the day has properly begun, we are already responding to it. Already behind. Already oriented outward. The dangerous thing is not the phone itself. It is what the habit reveals. We have learned to begin our days with the world's agenda rather than God's presence.

For many Christian professionals, this has become normal. The demands of work are relentless. Deadlines do not pause. Emails continue to arrive. Responsibilities multiply. The pressure is not simply to work hard, but to remain constantly available.

And yet when we come to Mark 1:35, we find a different pattern. The previous day had been extraordinary. Jesus had taught with authority, cast out an unclean spirit, healed Simon's mother-in-law, and ministered to crowds that gathered late into the evening. It had been a full day. A fruitful day.

Yet Mark tells us:

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."

Before the crowds returned. Before the demands resumed. Before anyone needed anything from him, Jesus withdrew to be with the Father.

What is striking is that this was not a one-time event. Luke tells us that as Jesus' reputation grew and the crowds increased, he "often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (Luke 5:16). The greater the pressure, the deeper the practice.

When work becomes demanding, solitude is often the first thing to disappear. We tell ourselves we will spend time with God when life settles down. But life rarely settles down. There is always another task, another meeting, another responsibility waiting for our attention.

Slowly, we become active but unanchored. Busy but spiritually depleted. We continue working, serving, and producing, yet find ourselves running on reserves that were never meant to sustain us.

Jesus shows us another way.

He did not withdraw because his work was unimportant. He withdrew because communion with the Father was the source of everything he did. The solitary place was not where he escaped his calling. It was where he remained rooted in it. The same is true for us.

Solitude is not withdrawing from work. It is returning to the One who gives meaning, wisdom, and strength for the work. It is choosing, however briefly, to listen before speaking, to receive before producing, and to be with God before doing for God.

The emails will still be there. The deadlines will still be waiting. The demands will not disappear.

But when we return from the quiet, we do not return as the same people. And over time, that changes everything.

Challenge 

Take a few minutes with these questions before you begin your week:

Jesus withdrew more as the demands on him grew. What would it look like for you to move in that same direction this week?

Prayer

Lord, before the day finds me, let me first find you. Teach me to trust that time spent in your presence is never time lost. In the noise I call normal, make space for the silence where you speak. And as I return to the work you have given me, may I carry something of that stillness with me — a sanctuary not left behind, but brought along. Amen.

A Tent International Devotional — by Praise Mark