“And He withdrew Himself into the wilderness, and prayed.” Luke 5:16
There has never been anyone so calm under pressure as the Lord Jesus. Why? It is because of his abiding relationship with His Father, and that utter dependence upon the Spirit of peace, the Holy Spirit. However, there were times when there was the necessity of aloneness, stillness, primarily for prayer and waiting upon the Father. Constantly with His disciples and surrounded often by a crowd of people whose needs were numerous and beyond human remedy, Christ lived in the quiet presence of His Father. The Father was a sanctuary for Him, His place of rest. And yet, Jesus would deliberately rise before day, and go to a place of solitude. Why? As a perfect man, though God revealed to us in the flesh, he had chosen to subject Himself to the limitations of man and know the very real and profound needs of men. Christ’s objective in going aside was to be alone with His Father, in a place of solitude where true communion, in its freshest and most renewing form could be realized. For a few short moments, Jesus was free from the distraction of those whom He loved, the disciples, and the ministry and obligation He had to train them in His ways. He was also free from the burdened, need-bound condition of the crowd. His gaze was only on the Father by the Spirit. It was in that place and attitude of certain good, that Christ would converse with the Father, waiting upon Him by the Spirit, to receive His words of strength, consolation, wisdom, and compassion. There in the aloneness, the vision would be renewed in all of its glory, the vision of the loving heavenly Father who loved the beloved Son, and Christ’s devoted love for the Eternal Father. Stillness of mind and heart were essential also if Jesus was to be in an attitude of expressing the deep concerns of the Son for that which was before Him. It would take this stillness also, to receive even the faintest overtures, and indications, by the Spirit of the Father’s response to the Son. Perhaps, it can be said that Christ’s most essential ministry was that of being alone with His Father, for out of that communion would come forth Life and eternal blessing for the world. What about those who would seek to truly know God, have communion with Him, and grow in a life of worship and service?
We get a slight glimpse of the necessity of stillness, and quietness, when we read what the Lord says about prayer. “But when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast closed the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” (Matt. 6:6) The Lord not only says that we are to come aside, and “enter into thy closet,” in other words, to choose a place of aloneness and stillness, but He says that we are to “close the door.” There is to be a separation between us and the distractions, and concerns, in the world, to be ALONE with God the Father. This is the calling of God to every believer, to have individual, and profound communion with God, and God with him. The depths and richness of this communion can be gauged somewhat by the magnitude of the sacrifice of Christ in order to secure it for the believer. Paul wrote the Roman believers: “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (8:32)
The God of abounding grace, who has provided sinful man a singular and certain way into His presence, by the power and worth of the blood of His dear Son, has called the believer to know Him in the quietness, and aloneness of His presence. It is in being still, and with great confidence in coming, that we can approach the Father, in the Son’s name, by the Spirit’s power.
Dear Father, Be our stillness today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.