Jesus not only taught his followers to pray in the secret place but he demonstrated it throughout his life. From his life we see that the foundation of his public ministry life was his private life in prayer. For the rest of the week we will look at examples of this.
Luke 5:15–16
15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
This passage occurs early on in Jesus ministry as his popularity is on the rise. Luke notes that the news was spreading about him and crowds of people were coming to him. Our western, fast-paced mindset would say to take advantage of this opportunity. Don't waste a moment. Give the people what they want. More is better. Strike while the iron is hot. I could go on and on.
Yet Jesus' response is different. In the midst of all this public ministry Luke is sure to note that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. It seems as if the more popular Jesus became, the more he needed solitude to pray.
The language, here, tells us a lot about Jesus' practice. First, he did this often. This wasn't a one-time retreat. It was something Jesus practiced, often, and the gospel writers noticed it.
Next, we see that he withdrew. This is a simple detail but probably the most difficult aspect of this practice for us today. Jesus had to withdraw from the crowd and his public ministry to have solitude. The simple truth is that we will have to withdraw from something to have solitude. This is increasingly more difficult in our ever connected digital world. We have the ability to video chat with someone on the other side of the world. Our social media platforms allow us to see what everyone is talking about all the time. I haven't even mentioned the people we see face to face each day. With this constant distraction and entertainment it is increasingly more difficult for us to withdraw into solitude. There is always something else that we can be doing, but to have solitude, we must leave those other things.
Whatever our reasons for constant engagement, no matter how noble they are, Jesus had more reason to stay constantly engaged. He was healing people, casting out demons, teaching the truth of God. He was the Messiah and he only had three years to do his work. Yet he withdrew often to connect with God.
The final thing we see is that Jesus would withdraw to lonely places. As the gospels document, he would often withdraw to a mountain, a hill or a garden. The word here translated as lonely places is the same word for wilderness, as in the wilderness which the Spirit leads Jesus into to be tempted by the devil in Matthew 4. Depending on the context, it can mean a wilderness, desert or a lonely, solitary place. It's in these places where Jesus connects with God and finds strength.
Like Jesus, we need a lonely place to withdraw to, often. It may be a quiet room in the house without the TV on and electronics put away to avoid distraction. It may be the front porch or the backyard. It may be a local trail or favorite spot by the river or lake. It needs to be a place you can visit often and find solitude.
Additional Content
Reflection
Think about what you will have to withdraw from to have solitude. For most of us it is likely forms of entertainment that, if we are honest, should be quite easy to withdraw from. For some of us it will be work and the laptop. For us extroverts it will be people, even the people you love the most. For introverts, it may be a book or certain hobbies. Remember, we will all have to withdraw from something to have solitude. Think through your most common hindrances to solitude and prayer and mentally prepare yourself to withdraw from those things for a time.