All Scripture is taken from the New King
James Version of the Bible.
We live in such a busy and noisy society.
We are about to enter the busiest time of year with Christmas around the
corner. Everywhere we go, all we hear is
noise, and its going to get noisier. It is often hard to find a quiet place
which is free of any distractions. Our whole society thrives on noise. It’s as
if we are afraid to be quiet, even for a while. In Psalm 46:10 it says, “Be
still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be
exalted in the earth.” I have now found the perfect time and place to spend
time with my Abba Father. I cannot physically get myself up in the morning, but
have to wait for the PSW (Personal Support Worker) to come and get me up and
ready for the day around 7:30-7:45. Yet I wake up somewhere around 4:30 most
mornings. I use that time to spend with my Abba Father before the call bells
start ringing with residents needing help, or the PSWs talking to each other in
the hallway. I consider the early morning hours as my secret place where my
Abba Father is waiting to have fellowship with me. Jesus said, “But you, when
you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your
Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will
reward you openly.” (Mathew 6:6).
John the Baptist was ordained to be a
prophet, the forerunner for Jesus. An angel predicted John’s birth and
ministry.
“But the angel
said to him (John’s father), ‘Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is
heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will call his name
John…For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither
wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit even from
his mother’s womb…He will also go before Him (Jesus) in the spirit and power of
Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient
to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’”
(Luke 1:13,15,17).
A description of John the Baptist’s
ministry is given as far back as Isaiah, “The voice of one crying in the
wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway
for our God. Every valley shall be exalted And every high mountain and hill brought
low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth.”
(Isaiah 40:3) and is repeated by Luke. “The voice of one crying in the
wilderness; Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. Every valley
shall be filled, And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked place shall
be made straight, And the rough ways smooth. And all flesh shall see the
salvation of God.” (Luke 3:4-6).
The angel told Zachariah that John’s
ministry would be to turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord. “He was
to prepare and make ready a people for the Lord.”
Even though John was ordained to be a
prophet from before he was born, he had to spend time in the wilderness so he
would know the Lord’s voice for himself. “While Annas and Caiaphas were high
priests, the word of the Lord came to John in the wilderness.” (Luke 3:2). Matthew
also gives an account of John’s time in the wilderness. “In those days John the
Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Now John himself was clothed
in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts
and wild honey.” (Matthew 3:1,4).
Scripture does not tell us how long John
the Baptist was in the wilderness. But it must have been a while as we are told
what he wore and what he ate. John knew the message he was to preach just
before Jesus was in the public eye. “In those days John the Baptist came
preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:1). John also baptized many people in the Jordan
river as a baptism of repentance. This was to prepare the people for the coming
of Jesus Christ.
The Lord always wants to get us alone with
Him so we hear His voice clearly. “But he who enters by the door is the
shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his
voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” (John 10:2-3).
In the solitude, we can draw close to the Lord and feel His presence. It is so
awesome to feel the Lord’s presence. When you are really there in His presence,
you do not want it to end, I know I do not. I long for the stillness, for it is
in the stillness that we know He is God. I’m not only speaking of a physical stillness,
but also of a stillness of our mind and heart. In order to hear what the Lord
wants to say, we must be “Casting down arguments and every high thing that
exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity
to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5). The Lord cannot speak to us
when our minds are racing and our hearts are anxious. The Psalmist said, “Be
still and know that I am God.” (Psalms 46:10). It is in that same stillness and
quiet that the Lord can speak to us. I find those times in His stillness and
presence so precious. I never want to leave the Lord’s presence.
When I was living alone in my apartment and
people would come to visit, some would say, “It is so quiet in here.” I would
respond, “Yes, that is the way I like it. I can concentrate on what I am doing.
I can also feel the stillness of the Lord.”
Jesus Himself knew the importance of
spending time in His Father’s presence. After Jesus had been baptized by John,
He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. “Then Jesus, being filled with
the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness, being tempted forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate
nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.” (Luke 4:1). Jesus
had to experience the temptations of the devil so He could identify with man in
his temptations. There is an interesting fact here. Jesus faced all His
temptations in the solitude of the wilderness where He was completely alone. Very
often, the Lord has to get us alone to test us, especially if He is preparing
us for ministry, or for a higher degree of ministry. It was after His time in
the wilderness that Jesus began His public ministry. “Then Jesus returned in
the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the
surrounding region.” (Luke 4:14).
Jesus’ time in the wilderness was not the
only time He spent in solitude. He often spent all night in prayer with His
Father. “Now it came to pass in those days that He (Jesus) went out to the mountain
to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:14). There were
other times when Jesus would rise early to pray. “Now in the morning, having
risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary
place; and there He prayed.” (Mark 1:35). If Jesus, the Son of God, found it
necessary to spend time in the presence of His Father, how much more necessary
is it for us to seek out a solitary place to spend time with our Heavenly
Father.
As we head into this Christmas season and
all the busyness it brings, let us not forget what we are celebrating. The
reason that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year is because God
sent His Son, Jesus Christ, so we could have a relationship with our Father.
