“…Jesus went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was alone there” (Mat 14:23)

Following what He knew to be The Father’s express will was not always easy for Jesus. Our Lord had to be by Himself in a solitary place, alone with The Father at times, in order to be able to carry out His will. We too face a similar challenge today. When we have had a discouraging, difficult week; it is such a blessing to recall her what Jesus would do, and to also practice it ourselves. This week I could see no reason, no blessing in Gods will. Those are the toughest times. When we cannot see any sense. When we cannot see whats actually going on.

Today, I am reminded of one of the major blessings of the original, Bible Sabbath. Its calm, it’s restfulness, its holy peace. There is a very unusual, yet familiar strength conceived in this kind of solitude. Perhaps this was what Jesus had found in His time alone with God on the mountain? Crows go in flocks and wolves in packs, horse and sheep in great herds; but the lion and the eagle, for just two examples, are solitaires. By looking at Jesus, it would seem that our strength is not in bluster and noise. Strength is in quietness.

“For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” (Isa 30:15)

I think for myself, the problem often stems from not wanting my strength to come in this kind of way. It doesnt even seem possible with the kind of week I have had. Yet, this is exactly why Isa 30:15 doesn’t just end as I have just quoted it, for it also says at the end of it

“…But you would not…”

It is comforting to know though that Jesus would, and the scriptures record a number of times where he went apart alone to pray and be with The Father. Seek His will. Gather His strength, for His weakness.

In nature, I have seen how the lake must be calm if the heavens are to be reflected on its surface. Even though our Lord dearly loves His people, how often do we read of his going away from them for a brief season? Jesus tried every once in a while to withdraw from the crowd. Jesus was always stealing away at evening to the hills. Most of His ministry was carried on in the towns and cities by the seaside, but Jesus loved the hills the best, and oftentimes when night fell He would plunge into their peaceful depths to pray and to commune with The Father.

The one thing I need above all else today is that I should be apart, alone, in the darkness and clouds of my experience, with our Lord. To sit at His feet in the sacred privacy of His blessed presence. I long for the lost art of alone time, Prayer time! Yes, for the culture of the secret place! At night. Waiting for the morning. For the Light. For the tonic of waiting upon God! (Isa 40:31)

But there are so many times when I let the hard days take over. When I allow the trials and afflictions to move right in and take first place in my heart. Yet, there is an very promising statement in scripture about how my present difficulties are in fact working out something very good in my life. Romans 8:28 says all things work out for good if we love Jesus. Maybe this is why scripture also says the following:

“For this our light and transitory burden of suffering is achieving for us a weight of glory” (2 Cor 4:17). (Weymouth)

Now there are obvious times such as the present difficulties, where it seems quite unbelievable that our trials and tribulations are actually and actively working out something better for us. But the verse is clear, “Is achieving for us,” is a road map we can follow as we trust Jesus to work in our life and in our hearts. No matter what the difficulty. The question is so often asked– Why is my life of drenched with so much pain, trial, difficulty, and blistered with so many tears?

Could it be that the answer is to be found in the word “achieving”; these things are all, and always achieving for us something precious. They are teaching us not only the way to victory, but better still the laws of victory. There is a compensation, a very rewarding realization in every sorrow, and the sorrow is working out the reward at the end of each trial and impossibility.

Jesus shows us the law of our victory, if you will, by going off alone, up a mountain, to pray and be alone with The Father. This reminds me of the old hymn:

“Nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee,

E’’en tho’’ it be a cross that raiseth me.”

Joy sometimes needs pain to give it birth. Fanny Crosby could never have written her beautiful hymn,

“I shall see Him face to face,”

were it not for the fact that she had never looked upon the green fields nor the evening sunset nor the kindly twinkle in her mother’s eye. It was the loss of her own vision that helped her to gain her remarkable spiritual sight, and discernment. Sometimes our darkest clouds are simply are there to shield us from the brightness of the sun which would otherwise overwhelm.

It is the tree that suffers that is capable of polish. When the Carpenter wants some curved lines of beauty in the grain he cuts down some maple that has been gashed by the axe and twisted by the storm. Broken by the lightning. In this way he secures the knots and the hardness that take the gloss, and display it so beautifully. It is comforting to know that sorrow tarries only for the night; it takes its leave in the morning. (Psalms 30:5)

A thunderstorm is very brief when put alongside the long summer day.

“Weeping may endure for the night but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psalms 30:5)

Seeking solitude was an important priority for Jesus (see also Mat 14:13,Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-13).  He made room in his busy schedule to be alone with the Father. Spending time with God in prayer nurtures a vital relationship with him and equips us to meet life’s challenges and struggles. Anyone of us today can develop the discipline of spending time alone with God. It will help us to grow spiritually and become more and more like Christ as our “burden of suffering is achieving for us an eternal weight of glory…”

Paul had faced suffering, trials, and distress as he preached the Good News. But he knew that they would one day be over, and he would obtain God’s rest and rewards. As we face great troubles, it’s easy to focus on the pain rather than on our ultimate goal. Just as athletes concentrate on the finish line and ignore their discomfort, we, too, must focus on the reward for our faith and the joy that lasts forever.

No matter what happens to us in this life, we have the assurance of eternal life, when all suffering will end and all sorrow will flee away: “The people the LORD has rescued will come back singing as they enter Zion. Happiness will be a crown they will always wear. They will celebrate and shout because all sorrows and worries will be gone far away.” (Isa 35:10)

This “Highway of Holiness” (Isa 35:8) is the way that righteous pilgrims will take from their desert of suffering to [the mountain of Jerusalem] Zion. It is found only by following God. Only the redeemed will travel God’s highway; they will be protected and nurtured as was Jesus whenever He went alone up a mountain to pray. God is preparing a way for his people (those who walk in his ways) to travel to his home, and he will walk with us. God doesn’t simply point the way; Jesus always walks beside us as we go.

“There is a peace that comes after sorrow,

Of hope surrendered, not of hope fulfilled;

A peace that looks not upon tomorrow,

But calmly on a tempest that it stilled.

“A peace that lives not now in joy’s excesses,

Nor in the happy life of love secure;

But in the unerring strength the heart possesses,

Of conflicts won while learning to endure.

“A peace there is, in sacrifice secluded,

A life subdued, from will and passion free;

’tis not the peace that over Eden brooded,

But that which triumphed in Gethsemane.”

(author unknown)

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. (Prov 13:12)

When once a good idea is discovered, want of it felt, strong desire for experiencing of it excited, and the promise of attainment made on grounds unsuspected, so that the reality of the thing and the certainty of the promise are manifest, hope brings us forward to realize the blessing. Delay in the gratification pains the mind; the increase of the delay prostrates and sickens the heart; and if delay sickens the heart, ultimate disappointment kills it. But when the thing desired, hoped for, and expected comes, it is a veritable tree of life. It comforts and invigorates both body and soul.

Alone, in the dark, you will experience the Light in your clouds.