The most important backbone of all Jesus' public ministry

When we meditate on God's words, "Very early in the morning, Jesus got up and went away to a solitary place to pray" (Mark 1:35, Korean Modern Bible), we come to think of several things about Jesus' prayer:

(1)    I think that perhaps the reason Korean churches have dawn prayer meetings is because of this word.

(2)    I think “early dawn” means “quiet time.”  I think of the lyrics of the first verse and chorus of the hymn, “Go, Carry thy Burden to Jesus”: “Go, carry thy burden to Jesus, And lay down thy load at His feet, Where Calvary's cross is uplifted, Find pardon and comforting sweet.  O, steal away softly to Jesus, To Him let thy heart be outpoured; Thy Father, who seeth in secret, Shall give thee a gracious reward.” 

(3)    I think it is precious to have the habit of starting the first hour of the day with prayer.

(4)    I think “a secluded place” (the Korean Revised Version is “a quiet place”) means “quiet place.”  This is Mark 6:32 Korean Modern Bible: “So Jesus and his companions went out in a boat to a quiet place.”  I think we each need to have our own quiet place, that is, a place to pray. 

(5)    When I meditate on the words of Jesus, who went to a quiet place and prayed quietly to God the Father during His quiet time, I am reminded of what Henri Nouwen said—that we must turn the lonely wilderness into a garden of solitude.  The difference between loneliness and solitude is that loneliness is considered as being alone, while solitude is considered as being with God.  Yet, we live in the midst of a city, not a wilderness, and still experience loneliness.  We experience a loneliness in the crowd that is more frightening than the loneliness of the wilderness.  What is even more frightening is that we are often incapable of transforming this loneliness in the crowd into a garden of solitude.  In other words, we are not experiencing the power of prayer.  Instead of conversing with God, we prefer to talk to our close friends.  Rather than listening to God's voice, we prefer to listen to human voices.  We prefer time spent connected with people and the internet over time spent alone in the wilderness with God.  Even though the Immanuel God is always with us, when we consider why we cannot feel God's presence, perhaps it is because we do not enjoy solitude but strongly dislike loneliness.  We need to become more accustomed to some loneliness.  We need training to be alone with a quiet heart in a quiet place during quiet time.  Through that training, we must develop the ability to transform the lonely wilderness into a garden of solitude by experiencing God's presence with us.

(6)    I believe that Jesus' intimate fellowship with God the Father while praying alone in a quiet place during quiet times was the most important backbone of all of Jesus' public ministry.