“And in the morning, rising up a good while before day, He went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”
Let’s look at the context of this verse first. In Mark 1:32-34, Jesus had healed a multitude of people and had cast demons out of others. Jesus’ ministry had reached a point where multitudes of people were following Him everywhere He went. It would, no doubt, be the same today. Jesus already knew of human need, because He is God, but viewing it firsthand, the responsibility laid on Him was formidable. Remember that along with being all of God, Jesus was also all of man. He felt the suffering of humanity deeply. At this point, He went to a solitary place and prayed. I Want to make an observation on this text, and ask you a question about your “solitary place.” The observation is that if Jesus needed to seek the Father in the midst of His heavy responsibilities, so do we. I don’t know what your responsibilities are. You might be weighted down at work with responsibilities. The weight of your burden might be that of parenting. These are certainly challenging times to be a parent. Your burden might be dealing with troubles in your marriage. Your burden might be depression that just closes in on you and suffocates your spirit. It might just be that the animosity in the world between different groups of people weighs heavily on your mind. Could it be that you are having all kinds of doubts about the Bible. I don’t know what you are weighted down with today, but I do know that you need to “take it to the Lord in prayer.” You probably remember the hymn: “Are you weak and heavy-laden, burdened with a load of care? Precious Savior still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.” Another hymn that you might be familiar with is “Near to the Heart of God.” The first stanza and chorus reminds us of the need for a solitary place: “There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God, a place where sin cannot molest, near to the heart of God. O Jesus blest redeemer, Sent from the heart of God, Hold us who wait before you, near to the heart of God.” The question for you is: Where is your solitary place? I know that this can be difficult for some people because it is difficult to find a solitary place in the midst of the activities of life. I know that we can pray any time at any place twenty-four hours a day. But I think that we need a special place to get “near to the heart of God.” Again, I know the difficulty of this. Anywhere that you can be alone with God will be fine. I have read of people who get alone with God in the woods. Their altar might be a tree stump, which would serve well as an altar. It might be that you are a person who can get alone in your own mind. What I mean by this is that you can isolate yourself mentally and silently reach out to God. I don’t know where your solitary place could be in your situation, but you need to find one. You need such a place to read the Bible and pray. I can only give you my experience. My solitary place is in our den in my easy chair at 5:30 a.m. That’s right; you might have to get up early in order to find your solitary place. Think about how important it is for you to get alone with God in any way that you can. It is in this solitary place that you can get in touch with the heart of God. It is in this place that you can unload your burdens on the Lord in the quietness of the hour. It is in this place that you discover what the will of God is for your life. Perhaps, it is in this place that you can discover a way to forgive those who have “trespassed against you.” I’m not suggesting that you are less of a Christian if you haven’t discovered your solitary place, but I am suggesting that such a time and such a place can make a difference in your life. Bro, Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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