Our Need for Time with God

^{Mark 1:35-39}

³⁵ The next morning Jesus awoke long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray. ³⁶ Later Simon and the others went out to find him. ³⁷ They said, “Everyone is asking for you.”

³⁸ But he replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and I will preach to them, too, because that is why I came.” ³⁹ So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and expelling demons from many people.

Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997, c1996 (electronic ed.) (Mk 1:34). Wheaton: Tyndale House.

Jesus was a busy man.  The day before this passage took place, Jesus had taught at the Synagogue, and then cast a demon out of a possessed man.  After that, he went to Simon and Andrew’s house.  Simon’s mother was ill, so Jesus healed her.  Then after sunset, many people showed up at the house seeking healing and freedom from demons.  Jesus must have spent much of that night ministering to the needs of the crowds that came looking for help and hope.

  He must have been exhausted.  Surely he had a good excuse to sleep in a bit.  But instead, Jesus was up early the next morning, seeking out some solitude.  He needed some quiet time to talk to His Father.

  It was vital, because there were so many people making so many demands on Him.  It would have been so easy to do what the crowds expected – demanded.  They wanted to be healed.  They wanted to see miracles.  They had His agenda all planned out, and it revolved around them and their desires.

  But Jesus had different priorities.  It is true that He came to minister to humanity, so these needs all around Him were important.  But He had limited time.  It would have been easy to give in to the demands all around Him, but He knew that He had a mission to accomplish, and that meant doing His Father’s will, not the will of the crowds.

  In the busyness of life, God’s voice is hard to hear.  With all the activity and all the demands around Him, Jesus needed to go to the wilderness, to pray.  Because of that, He knew that instead of giving in when the disciples said “Everyone is asking for you, “ He knew that it was time to move on to the next town.

  Nobody in history has had a closer relationship with God than His own Son, Jesus.  He knew the heart and mind of His Father, yet even He needed to get away from the noise and chaos of life’s daily demands, to communicate with His Father. 

  If Jesus needed that, how much more do WE need that?