A DESERT PLACE!

Monday, August 5, 2019

A DESERT PLACE!

Mark 6:31-32

31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.

The Greek word for “desert” in verse 32 is eremos and the literal interpretation is lonesome. The desert place was not a place in the desert because they reached it by ship! No, the desert place was a place without people! It was a place without demands and duties although the duties remained and the demands cried out. They withdrew for renewal.

Much more than other summers, this year our church folk have yielded to their need for vacations. I miss them terribly when they are gone but I understand. Perhaps it is because our economy is currently strong, or perhaps it is because our world is so full of stress, but people sense the need to escape.

Renewal and restoration are not luxuries. They are essentials. Being alone and resting for a while is not selfish. It is Christlike. Taking your day off each week or rewarding yourself with a relaxing, refreshing vacation is not carnal. It's spiritual. There is absolutely nothing enviable or spiritual about a coronary or a nervous breakdown, nor is an ultra busy schedule necessarily the mark of a productive life.  Charles R. Swindoll (1934- )

Our “quiet time” is that desert place whether it is in the morning before others rise or at night after others have retired; it is a place where we get alone with the everlasting God. Every believer needs this time to reflect, to worship and acknowledge God and to be refreshed. What a tremendous resource we have in the everlasting God.

Dear Lord, many of us begin this day still weary from yesterday’s labor. Renew our strength. Some have worked until their physical strength was nearly gone. Renew their strength. Some have cared for others until their spirits are numb. Let them mount up with wings. Let them run and not be weary. We trust in Thee, everlasting God. AMEN