Jesus Withdraws to Pray - Luke 5:16

The beloved physician Luke shared how, “it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be you clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities”, and in chapter five and verse sixteen of his book Luke shares how Jesus, “withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed” where we read:

And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.

The verse reads, “And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, ...” Luke began with the words, “and he withdrew himself” or “and Jesus vacated, retired quietly and went aside” “into the wilderness” which means “into the solitary, lonely, desolate and uninhabited desert”. Luke shared how Jesus removed Himself from where the people were assembling and went to the “lonely and desolate desert place”.

The verse goes on to say, “... and prayed.” Luke continued with words, “and prayed” which means “and offered supplications, worship and earnest request to God”. Luke shared how Jesus departed into the “wilderness” so that He might “worship and offer supplications” to His Father God.

When we think through Luke's words in this verse, we see another example of Jesus drawing Himself away from the crowd of people so He might be with His Father God alone. There is a time when He worked among people, and there is a time when He planned to be with His Father. “Prayer” was where Jesus refueled for His ministry upon the earth, and many times before great works or decisions were performed by Him, Jesus went to His Father first. God loves people to relate to Him through His Son Jesus, and when they submit their lives to Him as their personal “Savior and Lord”, He wants them to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (See Hebrews 4:16). Those who are wise will set aside time to be “alone” and “pray” to God where they may receive His direction and plan for their lives.

Next time Luke shares how, “there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by,”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".