"Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that the crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." Luke 5:15-16
Luke 5 puts us in the middle of Jesus ministry: He has been tested, He has been rejected in Nazareth, He has healed many, He calls his disciples, and He heals a man with leprosy.
He was busy, not aimlessly "busy", but He was fully engaged in ministry. In verse 15, He is surrounded by a crowd, a crowd of sick people in need of a "doctor" (Luke 5:31 and Matthew 9:12). These are the very people He came to heal.
But in verse 16 of Luke he retreats/withdraws. He escapes to rest. He needs to be filled. In His physical rest, He rest spiritually, or maybe its vice versa.
Does it take physical rest to achieve spiritual rest?
I think it may. To rest spiritully, we have to slow down. How can we listen and search His word if we do not slow down?
What did He fill has time of physical rest with? Prayer.
For me, this is a challenge> a challege to fill my physical rest with prayer, not to add "work" to my rest, but to find physical rest in a state of spiritual rest.
I want to clarify that I am not saying that physical rest should always include prayer. What I am saying is to rest physically, in all it's glory, our spirits should be at rest.
In His love,
Jennifer
3 comments:
I think you're right===physical rest and spiritual rest often go hand in hand. It's hard to talk to God or hear from him when you can't stay awake. :)
"quest for physical rest" - yes. I agree with you & Sheryl - physical & spiritual hand in hand :D We're in it together!
Sheryl, you are so right!
Jeri, I'm so glad we're not alone. :)
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