"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." (Mark 1:35)
The Bible is an amazing book. I’ve learned over the years to keep reading
it daily as every time I read I find that it gives great instruction,
information and inspiration. Often, it takes years to develop an
appreciation for some of these teachings.
One of the things I’ve tried to learn
from the Bible is the way that Jesus spent time alone with His Father. All of the Gospel accounts mention the fact and the frequency and the manner by which Jesus would pray. Jesus is often noted as being in prayer and spending time with His Father, in the wilderness as well as on mountains.
One of the interesting and often
mentioned instances is that Jesus often prayed alone. Actually, the way this is described is that
he prayed in ‘solitary’ places, meaning
that no one was with Him, no one but God alone.
Jesus was often critical of the
established duties and the laws that the Jewish leaders had created. These
customs, rules and regulations had good intentions but often were a heavy burden on the people resulting in separation, alienation and a sense of
unworthiness. Jesus was also critical of the way some of these Jewish leaders prayed, who He said, "for a pretense, prayed long prayers" (Matthew 23:14)
Jesus emphasized a relationship with
the heavenly Father. He said that God
cared for all of creation. He told his followers not to
worry because the Father knew what they were in need of (Matthew 6 &
7). This was not a new teaching for in
the book of the Prophet Isaiah, God had said, “Fear not, for I have redeemed
you; I have called you by your name” you are mine” (Isaiah 44:1)
All too often, we don't really take to heart this teaching of Jesus. So frequently, our prayers are based primarily on
worry and concern. We find ourselves praying only because
we have exhausted all other possibilities and are left with no one else to turn
to but God.
This is not how Jesus modeled prayer. He rose
early in the morning to go to a solitary place to spend time with his
Father. Jesus taught his disciples to prayer the "Lord's Prayer" which is a prayer of adoration and a submission to God's will. He taught that prayer is more about humility and praise than requests for favor. Prayer was described by St.
Augustine as a “devout movement of the soul towards God”. I’ve always liked that quote as prayer is
often thought, as communication and it should move us toward the person we
communicate with and the Creator of the universe.
Prayer is the opportunity to align
ourselves with God. Our focus in prayer should be more about hearing than receiving. We know that God always hears us and in prayer we have the
opportunity, if we spend enough time and are able to quiet ourselves enough, to also hear from
God.
