A Solitary Place

Today’s Passage: Mark 1:35–39

The night before, the whole town had crowded around the door, and Jesus healed the sick until late into the evening. The next morning, before the sun is even up, His bed is already empty. Where did He go? That is the story we come to today.

As you read, hold this: Jesus met His Father before the day began.

Mark 1:35–37 (BSB)

³⁵ Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and went out to a solitary place to pray. ³⁶ Simon and his companions went to look for Him, ³⁷ and when they found Him, they said, “Everyone is looking for You!”

This is the morning after the best day Capernaum ever had, and if anyone ever earned the right to sleep in, it was Jesus. Instead He gets up while it is still dark and walks out to the empty place (ἔρημος) erēmos, pronounced EH-ray-moss. Strong's G2048, wilderness, a desolate, empty place. This is Mark’s word for the wilderness, a place with no one in it. It’s the same word for the desert where John preached and where Jesus was tempted. Jesus chose it on purpose: no crowd, no noise, nothing there but His Father. to pray.

The Son of God made time with His Father the very first thing of the day. If He went to the quiet place before anything else, then so can we, not as a rule we are handed to keep, but as a road He has already walked ahead of us.

Then comes the interruption: Everyone is looking for You! The day always comes looking for us, and it usually arrives as other people’s needs, already loud at the door. But Jesus had prayed first, before the day could take hold of Him.

Simon comes to Him with the whole town in his mouth, yet because Jesus had already been with His Father, He was not owned by the first voice that found Him.

Mark 1:38–39 (BSB)

³⁸ But Jesus answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns so I can preach there as well, for that is why I have come.” ³⁹ So He went throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Here is what that morning by Himself had given Him: a clear head. The whole town wanted more of yesterday, and Jesus says no, let us go on, because He had already met His Father and already knew where He was headed.

He did not ask the crowd what He should do. He asked His Father, and then He knew.

A morning with the Father does not make the day smaller. It quietly tells you which work is truly yours to do.

Jesus met His Father before the day began.

Personal Application

1. What would it take to give God the first few minutes of your morning, before anything else has a chance to claim your attention?

2. What choice are you facing right now that needs prayer before it needs an answer?

Today’s decision: Tomorrow morning I will give God the first few minutes, before I pick up anything else, and simply tell Him about the day ahead.

Pray to Close

The central truth: Jesus met His Father before the day began.

Give thanks: thank God that He hears us at daybreak, and that His mercy is ready before we ask.

Ask: ask Him for a real hunger for the quiet place, and for the clear direction that comes from meeting Him first.

Confess: tell Him the mornings you gave to noise first, and the prayers you kept putting off.

Worship for Today

Song: Be Thou My Vision, ancient Irish hymn, sung by Audrey Assad

Christians have been singing this prayer for well over a thousand years. It asks God to be the very first thing the heart sees, before the day and its demands arrive. That is Mark 1:35 turned into a song, and we can sing it as praise.

Listen:

• Be Thou My Vision, Audrey Assad (official music video)
• Be Thou My Vision, Audrey Assad (alternate)