Jesus Is Prayerful
Mark 1: 35-37:
“35 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. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
Scott Fitzgerald worked in bursts of gin-fuelled enthusiasm, whilst Samuel Beckett would cook himself scrambled eggs before spending the entire day scribbling in his room. Maya Angelou writes in motel rooms. Benjamin Franklin took “air baths”, and George Gershwin composed in his pyjamas.
We all have our daily rhythms, and it’s interesting to note the frequency with which the Bible mentions this particular time in Jesus’ day; when he began each morning in reverence to his Abba father.
Loving God and living for him is more than just keeping up with the daily quota of Bible reading. In fact, it’s not that at all.
It is desiring a deep-rooted relationship with him, even in the absence of any genuine feeling, and depending on him as much as we depend on any other basic human need.
I think about the importance Jesus put on spending daily time with God and I wonder; is my love for God reflected in my rhythm of life; in the way I set aside time for him, even when I don’t really feel like it? Is he the centre of my existence, or does he get the leftover scraps of my day?
I have long proclaimed that one of the characteristics I admire most in other people is diligence, perhaps because it is one of the things I lack most in my spiritual life. Each morning spent in God’s presence is a small victory for me, since most days I roll out of bed thirty minutes before my first engagement and struggle to make breakfast, let alone devour Scripture.
And yet, again and again, I stumble across beautiful pieces of Scripture declaring the necessity of a deep (and continually deepening) relationship with God: “[I] have treasured his words more than daily food” (Job 23v12).
Diligence is a characteristic of long-haul Christianity. You can’t get an instant prayer life, no more than you can get instant intelligence or instant health.
Reading these verses about Jesus taking so much time – separating it off, even – for the sole purpose of being with God really highlights his primary desire.
Jesus delighted in his father more than anything else.
He loved learning to listen, discerning God’s voice, recognising Him among all the other demands on his time.
He was prepared to put in the hard yards in order to get to know God better.
If it’s good enough for Jesus, it ought to be good enough for me.
As the people of God, we are set apart from the world. We listen to a different voice, a higher one.
But can we recognise when God is speaking amongst the rest of the chaos of busy life? Listening to podcasts and reading blog posts is all well and good, but at some point, we have to learn to love God on our own.
Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. (Psalm 37v7)
The craziness of daily life can produce a spiritual disorder, one that causes us to ignore being prayerful.
Strength comes in the discipline of deliberately coming before God daily, from keeping his bigger picture in mind, and from valuing time spent with him more than anything else.
Jesus is the ultimate example. Can we follow him?
