At the very point of ministry growth when worldly wisdom would want to press forward, Jesus does not simply take a little break here or there; but according to Scripture our Lord frequently withdrew to be alone with God. He went to desolate places where He would not be disturbed so that He could focus entirely on communicating with the Father.
Luke 5:15-16: “But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.”
These times of refreshing and reviving are essential to the ongoing demands of life and ministry. What our Lord exemplifies is good for us. Finding time and space to dedicate ourselves to conversing with our Father in Heaven, our Savior, and our Comforter allows us to get deeper than the needs of the moment. We can get still and appreciate our God in all His wonderful glory. We can listen to what He has said, and discuss with Him our questions. We can remain with Him, intent and focused upon being with Him.
This kind of devotion has a profound and immediate effect on us. As the song says, the things of this world grow strangely dim when we are basked in the light of His glory and grace. Everything falls into perspective as our orientation is realigned. At the same time, we are relieved of the weight of care which are taken up by our Great High Priest. Hurts are nursed by the abounding grace of the Savior. We draw near to Heaven, and it is the joy of going back to visit an earthly home multiplied exponentially.
There is so much more to be gained by taking the time to pursue God. There is peace that surpasses human understanding as we slow down, reorient to the wonderful truth of God’s loving existence, and cast our cares upon Him who cares for us. There is joy as we come near to the throne of Heaven and bask in the majestic glory of the thrice holy God Fath, Son, and Holy Spirit which outshines all the dreary troubles of this present life.
There is love such as can only be found in the awesome presence of the Trinity which takes us up in sovereign arms and nurses our hearts reviving us for reengagement with the work set before us.
The Joy of Solitude
You see, it might appear that we are doing very little when we get alone with God. It might appear as though we are neglecting other serious responsibilities as it did to Martha when her sister Mary remained with her Lord rather than helping with the necessary chores. In the end, it is the wiser course to be still and know God.
Jesus does not prescribe what is not possible, when He commands in Matthew 6 that we go to some quiet and isolated place to pray, He is not asking us to do the impossible. He is asking us to do something deliberate, something that has consequences. To spend time alone with God means we cannot spend that time with friends, or family, or on our hobbies, or at a job, or anything else. There is something to be lost in the pursuit of a growing relationship with God. Yet there is so much more to be gained in being alone with God.
What we lose is temporary and uncertain, but what we gain is eternal and sure.
Perhaps the real difficulty is that in knowing God we must be known by God, in the penetrating light of His presence we are revealed. The truth of John 3:19 is for all of us: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
It is not fun to be found out. It is humiliating to see our own evil laid bare to reckon with our failures, and to know the demands of justice. It is much easier to put the hard realities of remaining sins and personal imperfection away, to drown out the voice of truth with the noisy bustle of trite activity. It kills the pain, but it never treats the disease. We are killing ourselves when the cure for all that is killing us is ready at hand just because we don’t want to face the hard road forward.
Someday I think we will see how silly we have been. Already voices from the past cry out to us that it is folly. Paul from Philippians 3, Peter in the closing chapters of John’s Gospel, David in the Psalms, Augustine in His confessions, Luther and Edwards and so many more. But loudest of all come the voice of the God-man Himself, the Good Shepherd seeking His wandering sheep; see Matthew 11:28-30:
- Matthew 11:28-30: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The wonderful gift of God in Christ Jesus is grace, unmerited favor which washes away the guilt of sin allowing us to enter into the presence of the Holiest One and to enter without shame. More grace is what we can expect from God when we earnestly come to Him and face the reality of our remaining sin. He reveals it to us as a doctor reveals the remaining tumors to a patient before He operates to remove them.
The operation is performed by the indwelling Holy Spirit leading us further into the knowledge of the truth as we read and meditate and pray. It is the wonderful realization of John 15:5: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” And it is too much ignored and interrupted by today’s American Christians.
It is no wonder we American believers talk so much of revival. We are in desperate need of a renewal of the life of Christ in our hearts as it has been so thoroughly pressed out of us by the restless business of our daily lives. God clearly wants us to have time alone with Him in quiet solitude, and what He wants for us He is rue to grant us if we seek it earnestly. See 1 John 5:14-15:
- 1 John 5:14-15: “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”
See also Psalm 145:19, Matthew 7:7, and James 4:2-3:
- Psalm 145:19: “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.”
- Matthew 7:7: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”
- James 4:2-3: “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
If we want revival for ourselves, we must make time to be with the God who brings dry bones to life with the power of His word. If we want a life more abundant with the fruits of love, joy, and peace, we must find the space to devote to drinking in the abiding life of the True Vine. If we seek these good things there is every reason to believe we will find them. Only we must be willing to forsake other things in pursuit of the greatest.
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