Thursday, March 1, 2012

Finding Desolate Places.

Many times in the Gospels, Jesus would retire to desolate places. He would go to a mountain, or wilderness, or garden, and commune with His Father. Jesus recognized that these moments of silent withdrawal were necessary for fostering quiet resignation to God. The climax of the Gospel story begins in one of these desolate places; in a garden called Gethsemane. It was in this moment of solitude that Jesus sweat blood while wrestling with the sheer magnitude of the weight He was about to willingly embrace. If Jesus, the Son of God, needed these desolate places, how much more do I? I have realized that I need more desolate places in my life. I need more times of quiet and silence. I need more times of solitude. It is in these quiet moments that God speaks the softest, and the dearest. Jacob needed Penuel, Moses needed to tend the flock of Jethro, Elijah needed the time under the broom brush tree. The Bible is packed full of references of willful solitude for the purpose of communing with God. I guess the question for all of us to ponder is, do I have a desolate place?

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