“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”
Nothing new right? You have definitely read this before here in Mark or in other places in the Gospels giving us an insight into Jesus’ prayer life. Well, this morning I realized something that I had never seen in these references, or at least had never really pondered this truth. Jesus, who was God in human flesh, wakes up extra early so that he can pray! Now the immediate question in my head is “Why?” I mean really, why does Jesus need to pray? He IS God. Last week I read the passage in Matthew where Simon (Peter) cuts off the ear of a man coming to arrest Jesus. Jesus responds saying “Don’t you know I could have ten legions of angels come to my rescue with just a word (Scott Paraphrase Version…pick one up at your local Heretical Book Store).” So we know that Jesus was not powerless in His earthly body, actually just the opposite. He IS God!
I think the reason that this struck me so strangely is because of a misunderstanding of what prayer is all about. So as I asked why Jesus prayed, I got this answer: because He wanted desperately to be with His Father. I highly doubt this was a prayer time asking God for things or people, but a child worshiping His Father because of His love for Him. OF COURSE Jesus wakes up early and prays; He loves His Father and deeply desires to spend time with Him.
As I think more about it, I believe that Jesus was aligning Himself with the will of the Father during this time as well. Now remember, this is Jesus were talking about – our perfect, all-powerful Savior and Lord. Even He needed to get alone with God to align Himself with God’s will for Him on earth.
So although we can learn practical things from Jesus’ prayer life such as early morning prayer and getting alone while we talk to God, I want to go to the reasoning behind Jesus praying. Jesus wanted to be with God. He had all that He needed (seemingly, as God in the flesh) here on earth, yet he still prayed. Maybe He was modeling for us how and when we should pray, but I think that Jesus or the text would more overtly indicate such intentions. Though I do think that we can and should model our prayer life after Jesus’, that is not what I saw this morning. What I saw was an earnest desire to commune with the God of the Universe, even though He IS the God of the Universe! Jesus still knew that He needed to be in step with the Father.
How much more do I need to pray? How much more do I need to hear from God? I AM not God in the flesh, but rather am a human who has a wicked heart that doesn’t naturally pursue the Father. Therefore not only do I need to pray to KNOW God, I also DESPERATELY need Him to work in my life. I know that God can do things so much bigger than me! I know that God can do things so much better than me! I know that the only way anything that I ever do will amount to anything of eternal significance unless God steps in! But I don’t pray. How does this make sense? It doesn’t – not at all! If I truly believed that I would pray. So my prayerlessness proves my arrogance. By not praying, I affirm that I do in fact believe that I can do life without God.
So this is what I want you to ask yourself…
Do we believe that God can do better than us?
Do we believe that God is sovereign over our lives, our families, our friends?
Then why are we not praying?
Maybe you are a man or woman of prayer. In that case, thank you! Please continue to seek God’s face daily, and pray for those of us who struggle deeply with the practicalities of prayer. May God give us the grace to seek Him hard on our knees.
Scott
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