HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, November 6, 2026 – When things around him got intense and stressful, Jesus didn’t run to his family for advice. He didn’t go into a huddle with his disciples or consult with Mary and Martha. And he didn’t pull out his phone and panic-scroll social media. He did none of those things. Instead, he PHYSICALLY withdrew from the noise and focused on God.

We see Jesus doing this again and again in the Gospels, starting most prominently with his 40-day retreat to the wilderness. He went on that retreat alone. He also had a habit of retreating to the mountains on occasion, again alone. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he physically separated himself from his disciples to pray. He didn’t ask them to pray with him: He purposely went off by himself to be alone with God.

Certainly, we can pray together with others, or we can pray silently around others. But we pray best when we’re physically alone. That’s just the reality of our one-on-one relationship with God. Conversations subject to group dynamics are entirely different from one-one-one conversations. Group dynamics always involve competing interests and varying degrees of sincerity, which is why Jesus not only advises us to go into our closet (private space) to pray, but warns us to keep the content of our prayers private. That means what we tell God and what God tells us should remain between us and God and us and God alone, unless God directs us otherwise. This is a test that many people fail.

The devil’s calling card is noise and confusion; where noise and confusion reign, the devil reigns. Social media is, for the most part, noise and confusion. Not all of it, but most of it, the way a creek bed is mostly sand and rocks, with only a very occasional nugget of gold. I’m not saying to avoid social media altogether; all I’m saying is to make sure you discern the dirt from the gold. God can help you with that.

The noisier and more confused our surroundings become, the more critical it is that we separate ourselves to focus on God. Noise and confusion are a spiritual contagion, and panic is its main symptom. We should never panic. Becoming aware of a particular danger should not lead us to panic but to pray, and to do so immediately and alone. Our default should always be to pray alone. If God tells us “GO!”, we go. If he tells us “Stay”, we stay. If he tells us “Prepare”, we prepare. But whatever we do, we do it calmly and under the direct personal guidance of God.

Cherry-picking scriptural verses out of context doesn’t count as God’s direct personal guidance. This distinction is important. If someone advises us to do something that conflicts with God’s personal guidance—even if the advice is quoted directly from scripture—we’re under no obligation to do it. We consult God and God only, especially in times of noise and confusion. Jesus sacrificed himself so that we, through rebirth, would have the privilege of interacting with God one-on-one. Don’t let his sacrifice be in vain.

Cutting through the noise is as simple as separating yourself from others and focusing on God. This is what Jesus modeled, so this is what you should do.