Quiet time, time alone with God is awkward. In our culture today, it is really difficult to understand slow and quiet. We always have an agenda. We always have an itinerary and we always need to complete each phase of it as quickly as possible. I think our Western culture today is missing something through this though.
Mark 1:35 tells of Jesus early in the morning. Jesus’ disciples are still snoring loudly, the birds haven’t quiet awoken yet, and the sun is still thinking coming above the hilltops. This is most likely the quietest time of the day; nothing is moving, nothing seems distractive. This is the time that Jesus chose to be alone. But he did not just sit in his sleeping bag in his own thoughts. The disciples’ sleeping is still too much, too distractive. Jesus needed to move away from the quiet of morning to the complete and utter silence of the pre-dawn forest. This is the setting of Jesus sitting down and talking to God; alone and in complete silence.
It is interesting to think that Jesus would be so nit-picky on the setting he chose to talk to the Father. I think of myself and want to laugh. I usually am in the car when I choose to spend time in prayer with God. The music is cranked, the windows open, and the sound of traffic whizzing around my car. It seems that my time with God is not as dedicated, deliberate, and meaningful. It’s true! Jesus deliberately chose places and spaces where he could sit undistracted talking to God. This is my new goal of life. To daily find places where there can be no distractions from talking to God. Hopefully if you haven’t yet, you will try to find space for self as well to talk with God on a consistent basis.
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