One of my college roommates didn’t seem to be able to study alone. Often, when I came back to my dorm room after dinner, I’d find a group of girls studying (and talking and laughing) with my roommate. A roommate’s study group in my room meant I had to find another quiet place to study. I’m the type that can’t concentrate when there is noise and commotion in the room.

I knew students who couldn’t seem to go to lunch or the bookstore or much of anywhere without a companion.

Of course, the opposite is true of some. I liked to go many places (other than lunch) alone because it was more efficient. If you have three or four girls running errands together, it’s going to take three or four times as long to get done. But sometimes the fellowship is worth the extra time. We need a balance of time alone and time with others.

The same is true in the church. The last several years, I have seen an emphasis on community among believers, along with reminders that we’re not “lone rangers.”

While that emphasis is needed, I feel some take it too far. Some say we were never meant to read God’s Word alone, but in community. It’s true that for many years, people didn’t have their own copies of the Scriptures. All they had was what was shared and discussed when they gathered together. But that doesn’t mean no one should ever read the Bible alone now.

One writer said the preaching time at church is our main spiritual meal. I’m not sure what she based that conclusion on. It’s a vital part of our Christian life, but meeting God alone is vital as well. In fact, though I learn a lot and have been convicted during church and Bible studies, I think the main time I do serious business with God is home alone when I can process what I have heard.

Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior are part of God’s family. Yet we don’t relate to Him only as “one of the kids.”

God knew us individually before we were born. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jeremiah 1:5; see also Psalm 139:13-16).

God knows us by name. “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John 10:3).

God knows our thoughts. “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether” (Psalm 139:1-4).

God knows our ways. “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds” (Jeremiah 17:10).

Even the number of our hairs is known by Him. “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows” Luke 12:6-7).

We’ll each give account of ourselves personally to God. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

The psalms in the Bible are songs which were sung by the children of Israel. Some of them have plural pronouns, but many have personal pronouns. That means even though the congregation is singing about the truths of the passage together, the passage was written by someone’s experience with the Lord alone. Those singing can take those truths into their own individual relationship with the Lord.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears (Psalm 34:4).

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. (Psalm 40:2).

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me (Psalm 63:5-8).

I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words. My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise (Psalm 119:147-148).

God spoke to individuals as well as groups. Many New Testament letters were written to individuals (Luke, Acts, Titus, Philemon, 1 and 2 Timothy) as well as churches.

Saints of old had some of their most meaningful encounters with God alone.

Moses met with God alone many times.

David “encouraged himself in the Lord” (1 Samuel 30:6) when the men of Israel were ready to stone him.

Joseph spent years as the only apparent believer in the one true God when he was a slave in Egypt. His witness spread to others. But he had to remind himself of God’s truth on his own.

Two turning-point meetings with God in Jacob’s life happened when he was alone.

Daniel had friends of the same faith, but he faced the lion’s den alone, received visions alone, and prayed alone.

Paul ministered with companions but sometimes was alone.

Jesus dealt with crowds of people yet sought His Father alone.

In Revelation 2:17, God says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”

Spurgeon wrote in the October 12 reading from Morning and Evening, “There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in His service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. “

Elisabeth Elliot wrote in On Asking God Why, “Few people know what to do with solitude when it is forced upon them; even fewer arrange for solitude regularly. This is not to suggest that we should neglect meeting with other believers for prayer (Hebrews 10:25), but the foundation of our devotional life is our own private relationship with God. . . . Christians may (and ought to) pray anytime and anywhere, but we cannot well do without a special time and place to be alone with God.”

We’re to meet together frequently (Hebrews 10:25), “stir one another up to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24), learn from the incredible gifts God gave to the church in pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11-13), sing worshipful, Scripture-based songs together (Colossians 3:16).

Time with other believers learning God’s Word is vital and wonderful. I learn much from the observations of others. But we only meet together once or twice a week. The Bible is our spiritual food, and we need to eat more than that.

Our time alone with God should feed into our time with others, and our time in the Word together should edify our inner souls and equip us in our daily walk.

We often tell unbelievers that Christianity is not a religion, but a personal relationship with God. Relationships are developed with communication and interaction. God loves and cares about us individually as well as a body of believers. We don’t have to pit time alone with God against time with Him as a group. We need both.

(After I wrote a portion of this post, I searched my blog and saw I had written on this topic a couple of times before. So I pulled excerpts from both of those posts into this one.)

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)