You and yourself… (Luke 5:16) 031008
But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. (Luke 5:16)
It is not good for the man to be alone (Gen 2:18), that was why God created woman and family so that we can be connected with each other. Connectedness is the key to a meaningful relationship and self-identity. We need to be constantly connected with people around us and also with God. These two prongs of connectedness is not an option, it is something meant to be good for our soul.
We are very good in connecting with people; we have the technology to stay in connection. We have mobile phones whereby we can SMS, we have internet whereby we can stay in touch and make friends through Facebook and Friendster, and all sort of other platform in the virtual world to stay connected. But are we really having meaningful relationship with people? We have lost the art of communication. We have lost the personal touch with each other. We have lost ourselves in the midst of the virtual world. We can be with many people, but yet feeling lonely.
Being alone and being lonely are two different things altogether. We can be alone and not feeling lonely. Like Jesus, He would often slip away into wilderness where He could be alone. The Bible says, He Himself, and this indicated that there was no one else going into the wilderness with Him. But when He prays, we know that He is in connection with God, His Father. He did not slip away only when He felt that He was burning out, He often slipped away. I suppose He did it regularly. And I wonder, how often do we slip away to be alone with God?
When Jesus was alone with God in the wilderness, He prayed. Yes, Jesus prayed. Jesus was in active conversation with God. He realized that He needed to be constantly in connection with God. It was not so much that when He was praying, some supernatural power will come down to Him and recharged Him for ministry. Jesus simply wanted to be with Himself and with God. He wanted to be in the presence of His Father to be reminded: how precious He is to His Heavenly Father.
This is the reason why we need to be alone with God. We are not to be alone by ourselves. We are not to be alone and shut everyone else out, including God, but we are to be alone and pray. As we pray, we are in connection with God, we are in conversation with God, and we are in relationship with God. And at the same time, we are in connection with ourselves again. We need time to reflect our lives, we need time to examine our relationships, we need time to look at the condition of our soul, and we need time to be with ourselves and rest.
If you have not been resting lately, take time to be with yourself and rest. As Jesus went into the wilderness by Himself, you yourself should also often slip into the wilderness and pray. Stay connected. You and yourself.
HHS…
Abel…
