A Solitary Place

Lately I have been surprised by how much “noise” there is in my life. I am not speaking strictly of the auditory types of noise that surround us everywhere we go, though that is a part of it. I am speaking more directly to the fact that, in this age of technology, we are constantly bombarded with information. Most of us have access to unlimited amounts of data anytime day of night. We get our phone calls and emails whenever and wherever we are. We are connected to the world in ways that we never could have imagined twenty years ago. If things get too quiet I open my laptop or look at my iphone. There is a lack of times of inactivity. I fear that in the midst of all these great strides in technology we have forgotten something that is vital to our own humanity. We have forgotten how to unplug. Jesus was great at unplugging when he walk on the earth. I mean look at Mark chapter 1:35: “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He (Jesus) went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” This was not an isolated event for Jesus. He regularly slipped away and shut out the “noise” of the world for times of Solitude with the Father. When you look at this in light of the rest of Mark 1 you find that Jesus had been doing a lot of great things for people. Everywhere He went people were looking to Him for something and He was there for them. There were so many voices calling to Him, so many things that were requesting His attention and He slips away to find a solitary place. In the midst of doing so much good He realized that sometimes you have to set aside the busyness for solitude. I love the clarity you see in Jesus when his disciple finally track Him down.
v.36 And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him. 37 When they found Him, they said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” 38 But He said to them, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth.”
When Jesus came away from His time of Solitude with the Father He was able to say “there are many good things that I could do here, but I need to go other places now because that is why I’m here.”
When we disconnect, when we find a Solitary place to be alone with God, we find a renewed clarity about life. We get a fresh reminder of what are we supposed to be doing, where we should be focusing our energy, what is really important right now! When we turn off the “noise” we can clearly hear the Father’s voice. I believe that is why Jesus could make statements like “the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do...” - John5:19

Subdue it!

Recently I was reminded of these words found in Genesis 1:28 "Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." 

What struck me as I though about it was the word "subdue"  The Hebrew word for subdue used here is Kabash which is a verb meaning to conquer or bring into subjection. The noun form of this word Kabesh can be translated to mean footstool. There is the associated image of a conquerer placing his foot on the neck of one who has been conquered. We see something similar to this in Isa 66:1 where is says "Thus says the LORD:" Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool." (Do you get a sense of God telling Adam something like " May My will be done on the Earth as it is in Heaven"?)

God didn't just create man and then throw him in a garden full of tame things with nothing to do. He created man and then gave him a challenge. He said here is the earth, fill it up and conquer it. Make it your kabesh. God knows the innermost parts of man and He knows that we need a purpose. Man without a purpose becomes bored and destructive, our conquests become carnal and and inhuman. Proverbs 29:18 says "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law." When we walk with God and our vision is revealed by His Spirit our challenges are those given us by God and the result will be His will being established in the Earth.