Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.  Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”  Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else–to the nearby villages–so I can preach there also.  That is why I have come.”                 Mark 1:35-38

This story explains exactly what it is that is wrong with believers today.

Got your attention?

The heading for this section in my Bible says Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place.  We’ve already come to the first area of faultiness among so many of us these days.  The example we have from Christ is one of great discipline.  Just in the heading we see Him showing us that in order to live a life of design, we must be disciplined to do that which WILL NOT come naturally.  The one discipline you can easily pick out, prayer.  But did you know that solitude is also a discipline?  How well do you handle moments of quiet and solitude?  When everyone leaves you alone in the house, what is your gut reaction?

Do a little test for me, next time you get in the car alone, turn off the radio, get off the cell phone, and see how long it takes before you are itching for another way to spend the time.

If you want to hear your Lord talking, you might need to find a quiet place to listen.

Moving beyond the heading: ‘very early’, this one hurts me.  I’ve been through seasons where getting up before the crack of dawn worked great for me.  I’m not in that season now.  I’m a night owl, that I can do.

Christ is demonstrating a point here.  That which you deem important to do, you make sacrifices in order to get done.  You willingly give over things, not just things that you want, but things all of life around us tells us we need.  You know what the truth of the matter is, Man does not live by bread alone.  (Matthew 4:4) God can make us rested without our closing our eyes, He can fill our bellies without our eating a bite, and He can keep us healthy and fruitful without our worrying our little heads over those things.  He knows what we need and is good at providing it.  (Luke 12:22-34)

The next part is where we all seem to fall apart.  Picture it, Peter comes frantically searching for Jesus, astounded that He would run off at such a time as this.  There is a following, there are people who need Him and sickness waiting to be eradicated and demons to be banished.  There’s a lot to do and they don’t have time for all this silly sitting on mountainside business.  Quiet moments staring at the clouds, eyes closed in silent reverie, who has time for that!  Notice the urgency.  They search for Him, Peter “exclaims”, his cry ends in an exasperated exclamation point.  

How would you have responded if you were in the picture?  

Your answer shouldn’t be hard to find.  Look at real life today.  Aren’t you the Jesus in this picture a hundred times a day? Someone needs you!  Something needs to be done.  Someone is searching frantically for you.  There are things to do and people to assuage and please and meals to cook and eat and meetings to go to and work to complete and service to conduct and hands to shake and connections to make and chores to complete and lists to write up and studies to conduct and errands to run and exasperation to feel!  

And then we come to what so many of us are missing so many endless days on end.  

Jesus says no.  

There is a need, there are people, there is sickness and demonic possession and urgency.  But He says no to them all.  How did He know that that wasn’t where He needed to be?  If you just look at the situation logically, who wouldn’t think it was the place to go.  

Now do you see how it all fits together?  Only by having His moments of solitary prayer was Christ able to determine where He needed to be.  

There will always be something vying for our time and attention.  There will always be need.  There will always be someone seeking you out.  It is only the Lord who know which needs to leave unmet, which are waiting for someone else to meet them, and which are on your list to tackle.

That is why I have come.

Why is it that you have come?  What are you uniquely here to do?  Is it to answer the frantic calls by countless people with selfish or hidden or even good-hearted requests?  Is it to follow the exclamatory cries of every soul needing healing and help?  Or might it be you’ve come for some reason you never even stopped looking logically long enough to find.  God often defies logic.  And somehow the plans still end up great.  

I don’t want to be logical.  I don’t want to be led around my own life by frantic voices pulling me toward the latest and loudest need.  I don’t want to take within myself other people’s anxieties and inabilities to slow down and trust.  I don’t want to spend all my energy chasing needs I might not be the best one to meet.  I don’t want to pour myself out for that which is temporal.  

It starts with checking out how Jesus managed to do that (there’s no better example of how it’s done!).  And then attempting to do the same.  

Be still, be quiet, be disciplined.  Let Him fill you in on why you’ve come.