Departing and Praying

When studying Jesus' life and ministry in the Gospels, many will often point out the times Scripture states that Jesus woke up early in the morning to spend time with the Lord. Clearly, this sets an example for us as believers that time of solitude with the Lord is to be a prominent and essential part of our lives.

However, I have been learning this year, through both Mars Hill sermons on Luke and through my own reading of the Bible, that Jesus' time with the Lord was so much more than a quiet time here and there. Luke 5:16, after describing the start of Jesus' ministry, the calling of the first disciples and one of the first acts of healing, says "But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray." The Greek construction of these words (imperfect verb and two present participles)  can also be translated "was regularly withdrawing and praying." This was Jesus' way of life. And when we he do it? Not just early in the morning, and not just when He had time for it. He continually did it. It was a pattern of His life to withdraw from his disciples, apostles and the crowds that followed him in wonder, to spend uninterrupted, prayerful time with His Father... our Father.

What would my life look like if I was "regularly withdrawing and praying?" I feel blessed to have fulfilling, fairly lengthy times with God every morning. However, my time is still mainly made up of studying Scripture and rarely includes prayer (confession of sin). It is my compartmentalized chunk of time set aside every morning. I am in no way planning to forsake this time that God has given me, but what if I also withdrew to pray throughout the day? And not just when I have time for it. For Jesus, it seems to be when he had the least time that he would make a point to WITHDRAW and pray. Withdraw from what? The constant crowds who needed spiritual and physical healing, the needy apostles who had willing hearts but were immature in their faith and needed constant teaching, the proud teachers of the law who needed rebuke. In the very verse before 16, it says "...great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities, BUT he would withdraw to desolate places and pray" (Luke 5:15b-16). What would my life look like and how would my faith grow if I could become like Jesus and withdraw and pray during the least convenient, most busy times of my life? Clearly, that's when we need God's guidance and rest the most.