Why Being Alone with God Is So Hard | John Mark Comer
Theology in the Raw with Preston Sprinkle
8,271 views
What is constant noise doing to our souls? And why can being alone with God feel so uncomfortable?
John Mark Comer joins Preston to discuss his latest book, Into the Quiet: Following Jesus in a World of Noise. We explore how noise affects our capacity to love God and others, what surfaced during John Mark’s 21-day solitude retreat, and why silence often brings us face-to-face with the pain we’ve been avoiding.
John Mark also shares why quiet doesn’t come naturally to him, how to practice solitude within the demands of everyday life, the difference between solitude and loneliness, and the surprising structure of the small church he helps pastor.
John Mark Comer is the New York Times bestselling author of eight books, including Practicing the Way, which was named the 2025 Christian Book of the Year by the ECPA, and The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, which has sold more than a million copies and been translated into over 20 languages. His latest book is Into the Quiet: Following Jesus in a World of Noise, which forms the basis of our conversation. John Mark is a pastor and the founder of Practicing the Way, an organization working to see the renewal of apprenticeship to Jesus in our time.
Watch our Extra Innings conversation on Patreon, where John Mark Comer shares his evolving views on women in church leadership and the questions he’s still wrestling with: Patreon: theologyintheraw
CHAPTERS
00:00 Why solitude is so hard
00:49 Introducing John Mark Comer
03:57 Running, ministry, and friendship
07:24 Why your body matters for spiritual formation
10:27 Writing theology that people can understand
12:53 Noise is a threat to our souls
13:48 Sponsors
15:45 How noise affects our bodies and relationships
21:47 John Mark’s 21-day solitude retreat
24:32 What we learn when distractions are stripped away
27:36 Jesus’ rhythm of retreat and return
30:49 Becoming a person of quiet in an anxious world
34:45 Solitude for busy people and extroverts
38:39 Finding quiet within the life you actually have
42:08 The difference between solitude and loneliness
44:56 Inside John Mark’s small church community
47:51 Extra Innings: Women in church leadership
9 Comments
1. The emphasis on the body is so right. I went through a really stressful period of life and was really not taking good care of myself because of how busy I was and how my work schedule was at war with my sleep schedule. During that time I started struggling with persecutory delusions and apart from the importance of the physiological factors that were involved in generating that struggle, I just cannot emphasize enough how bodily the sense of certainty that you are in danger is. That experience feels very consonant with some of the observations made here about how formative bodily rhythms and experiences are and even how bodily belief is or at least can be.
2. I really should get into more of Comer's stuff. It's been a point of growth for me to acknowledge how much shame there is around not being more productive. Hurry and noise are absolutely implicated in chasing away that shame in unhealthy ways.
Isaiah 58 is this: Piety that does not produce a passion for God-exalting social justice and practical mercy is worthless. Or to put it positively: God promises that we will break forth like the dawn if our piety produces a passion for social justice and practical mercy. - John Piper
Why Being Alone with God Is So Hard | John Mark Comer
Theology in the Raw with Preston Sprinkle
8,271 views
What is constant noise doing to our souls? And why can being alone with God feel so uncomfortable?
John Mark Comer joins Preston to discuss his latest book, Into the Quiet: Following Jesus in a World of Noise. We explore how noise affects our capacity to love God and others, what surfaced during John Mark’s 21-day solitude retreat, and why silence often brings us face-to-face with the pain we’ve been avoiding.
John Mark also shares why quiet doesn’t come naturally to him, how to practice solitude within the demands of everyday life, the difference between solitude and loneliness, and the surprising structure of the small church he helps pastor.
John Mark Comer is the New York Times bestselling author of eight books, including Practicing the Way, which was named the 2025 Christian Book of the Year by the ECPA, and The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, which has sold more than a million copies and been translated into over 20 languages. His latest book is Into the Quiet: Following Jesus in a World of Noise, which forms the basis of our conversation. John Mark is a pastor and the founder of Practicing the Way, an organization working to see the renewal of apprenticeship to Jesus in our time.
Watch our Extra Innings conversation on Patreon, where John Mark Comer shares his evolving views on women in church leadership and the questions he’s still wrestling with: Patreon: theologyintheraw
CHAPTERS
00:00 Why solitude is so hard
00:49 Introducing John Mark Comer
03:57 Running, ministry, and friendship
07:24 Why your body matters for spiritual formation
10:27 Writing theology that people can understand
12:53 Noise is a threat to our souls
13:48 Sponsors
15:45 How noise affects our bodies and relationships
21:47 John Mark’s 21-day solitude retreat
24:32 What we learn when distractions are stripped away
27:36 Jesus’ rhythm of retreat and return
30:49 Becoming a person of quiet in an anxious world
34:45 Solitude for busy people and extroverts
38:39 Finding quiet within the life you actually have
42:08 The difference between solitude and loneliness
44:56 Inside John Mark’s small church community
47:51 Extra Innings: Women in church leadership