What does Tribe teach about solitude?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on solitude is rooted in a simple observation about how God actually speaks. Joy Abad drew from 1 Kings 19, where Elijah encounters God not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in a gentle whisper. The point Joy pressed on is practical: a whisper requires you to get quiet, to lean in, and to remove other noise. You cannot catch a whisper in the middle of everything else going on.
The three instructions Elijah receives in that passage, go out, stand, and be on the mountain, gave Joy a working picture of what solitude involves. Go out means leaving your normal rhythms. Stand means being still. And the mountain, she said, connects to the idea of having no outside inputs at all, not a reduced amount of noise, but a genuine absence of it. This is not about once-a-year retreats or dramatic spiritual experiences. Joy was clear that people tend to overcomplicate this, waiting for something big when the practice itself can start very small. Drawing on James Clear's thinking from Atomic Habits, she encouraged starting with whatever amount of time is so small it would be harder to skip than to do. Sit with a pen and paper, take a breath to quiet down, and ask God a specific question: what do you want me to know about this? Then write down what comes.
The deeper reason solitude matters, in these messages, is tied to what Joy taught about the Hebrew word shema, which means listening and obeying at the same time. You cannot have one without the other. Solitude is where the listening half becomes possible. As Joy put it, "I haven't asked because I don't want to know what he has to say. That's a lot of good honesty right there." The quiet is not an add-on to obedience. It is where obedience actually begins.
Taught from 1 Kings 19:9-13 · Deuteronomy 6:4-5 · James 1:22-24 · Exodus 19:5-6 · Matthew 7:26-27
“If you don't obey, you haven't listened. And if you're just doing, it is not the same as obedience.”
From Listen Before You Obey
The passage taught · 1 Kings 19:9-13
9 He came to a cave there, and camped there; and behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
11 He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.” Behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake; but Yahweh was not in the earthquake.
12 After the earthquake a fire passed; but Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a still small voice.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- February 5, 2024 Listen Before You Obey Joy Abad teaches Tribe church that true biblical obedience begins with listening, exploring the Hebrew word "shema" and how to quiet yourself to hear God's voice.
- February 4, 2024 The Simplicity of Listening A teaching on the Hebrew word "shema," showing why real obedience to God begins with listening, and how to create the quiet needed to hear His voice.