Quiet Places

Quiet Places

Read: Mark 6:30-31

“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Mark 6:31

“Jesus knows we must come apart and rest awhile, or else we may just plain come apart.”

—Vance Havner

IN WORD The person who does not get alone with Jesus is sure to have difficulty as a disciple. This getting away is essential; there can be no growth or genuine service without it.

It is in the quiet places that Jesus refreshes us. Burnout is a common problem in whatever field we work, and the world has no lasting solution for it. Secular advice tells us to get away for a change of pace. If we follow that advice, we can postpone burnout for a time; but we will quickly get tired again if all we’ve done is relax. Jesus did not tell His disciples to go away to relax. He told them to come with Him. His presence is the difference between a temporary rest and a lasting refreshment.

In the quiet places, Jesus does give us rest, but He also teaches us how to depend on Him more fully, how to serve Him more effectively, and how to trust Him more implicitly. The quiet places are places of growth. We deepen our fellowship with Him, and instead of a temporary rest, we have a relationship that will continue to sustain us when the pressures of life are on us again. The things we learn in the calm with Him today are the things that will help us survive in the storms ahead.

IN DEED Quiet times with Jesus—even extended ones— are to be frequent occurrences. Jesus often went to a solitary place to pray. The times He had alone with His Father strengthened Him and guided Him for His mission in this world. In the same way, we generally cannot experience the presence of Christ in the busyness of life unless we have first experienced His presence in the quiet moments. We cannot get to know Him better when the shrill voices of our duties compete with His gentle leading. If we want to serve Him well, we need His sane, calm voice to speak clearly to us. And the only way to cultivate our hearing is in quiet places.