Alone Time!

Each of us appreciates a certain amount of alone time, but can you imagine being the Son of God, yet physically separated from God His Father?

15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
(John 6:15, King James Version)

Alone Time

We just read the account of Jesus feeding the 5000, earlier in John 6. When we get to John 6:15, it seemed as though all of the world was coming to Jesus to see the miraculous things which He did. Did that mean they were all becoming Christians? Unfortunately not; the Jews believed that the Messiah would come and set up a physical kingdom on earth and overthrow the rule of the Romans. Jesus knew their hearts, and perceiving that they were going to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed into a mountain to be alone.

Sometimes we forget that Jesus, in His humanity, suffered weariness just as we do. Even more, no man was like Him, so man could not provide the fellowship He could only receive from the Father. Can you imagine being the Son of God, yet physically separated from God, your Father?

Jesus was not afraid of man; even in this crowd of 5000, He was able to slip away. Jesus' death happened exactly when God had planned. It is important to remember that Jesus gave up His life. Until it was His time, no man could harm Him.

Alone time! If you are like me, I need some time when no one else is around. I wish I could say that I am so Godly that I always spend that time in prayer, Bible reading, and fellowship with the Lord. Unfortunately I struggle with that every day just as you probably do.

Can you imagine how precious that time alone was for our Lord Jesus Christ? He was so focused as to His reason for coming to this earth, that He was not ever distracted by His surrounding circumstances or the sin that so easily besets us. Neither was He swayed from His course of action by His earthly friends and acquaintances.

I would challenge us this day, me included, to take some time to pray and fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh how much we owe to Him--a debt we can never repay!

Each of us would do well to set aside a specific time each day just to pray and fellowship with God our Father, as did Jesus! We may not have a mountain to escape to, but we each can find that special, quiet place--our own, personal prayer "closet."

Next: Fears - Verses 16 - 21