In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. Mark 1:35

For more than 40 years, I’ve made it a habit to arise early while it’s still dark, to read the Bible and pray. I can’t imagine not doing this. I look forward to it. And if I can manage it, I try to get up even earlier to buy more time. It has been in these times I’ve done business with God, rather he’s done his business with me, meaning I’ve been still enough to listen to him.

While scripture reading and study has occupied most of this time, prayer in all of its aspects, from praising to pleading, has been a consistent agenda item, sometimes taken out of order.

And the whole city had gathered at the door. And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was. Mark 1:33-34

Here in Capernaum, ministry central, Jesus was beset with a constant stream of desperate people at his door in need of healing. In a human sense, with the constant activity, he had depleted both physical and mental energy, not to mention engaging in the spiritual toil of confronting evil. He needed to get away.

So he slipped out to his mountain retreat. Not only did he commune with his Father there, but he received his next assignment, to branch out into other villages.

“Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.” Mark 1:38

It’s vital to put ourselves into our heavenly Father’s boardroom (rather “throne room,” to which we have ‘bold and confident access,” Ephesians 3:18) to assess our progress and to seek out his will. The Greek word used in Mark 1:35 for praying, proseuchomai, is always used for praying a prayer to God, for example Jesus’ gut wrenching prayer in the garden before his arrest.

I remember my godly grandmother who was living with us for a time when I was young. I heard a commotion in the family room one night and I wandered out and witnessed her in her chair in a rather agitated state, crying and calling out, pleading with God.

It is in these restless moments that he transfers his energy to us, his wisdom to us, his courage to us, his resolve to us, his peace to us, his mission to us, and his love to us and for us.

We’ve got to get away to our lonely place,