God is Deeply in Love with Us!
Rising very early before dawn, He left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. – Mark 1:35
This verse from today’s gospel comes after we hear how Jesus is in the house of Simon and heals Simon’s mother-in-law of a fever. Jesus goes on to cure many other people into the evening hours. Then we read how Jesus rises early the next day and goes off to pray.
Jesus needed to fill His cup back up with the Father’s love and mercy. How did Jesus accomplish that? In prayer. Like everything else Jesus did while He walked the earth as a man, Jesus shows us what we are to do.
We get empty because of sin, because of the struggles of living in a fallen world. We need to get filled back up with God’s love and mercy. The solution to our emptiness is the same solution Jesus embraced. Prayer is our answer. God longs for us to come to Him in prayer. We can bring our hopes, our fears, our joys, our sorrows, our temptations, our successes, our failures, our everything to Him. God waits for us in the stillness; God waits for us to bring to Him that which He already knows. Nothing is hidden from God, so fear not. He just wants to hear the sound of our voices, praising, thanking, asking Him for guidance, and wisdom and love. Let’s get busy praying.
“But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)
Jesus, I trust in you.
©Mary V. Pribbenow