Where is Your Desolate Place? Find It and Meet God There
Jesus modeled the importance of being alone with God for us to follow
But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. | Luke 5:16
As I thought about where to go with today’s conversation, I was reminded of the verse in the Gospel of Luke that immediately precedes the story of the four men who carried their paralyzed friend to Jesus. Just after Jesus had cleansed and healed a man from leprosy in Luke 5:13 and as people learned of his ministry and great crowds began to follow to hear his message and experience his healing power, we read in verse 16 that Jesus would withdraw to desolate places and pray. As the crowds grew and the ministry reached more people, Jesus paused to find himself a desolate place to be alone with God the Father.
The Greek word for desolate in the New Testament also means solitary, wilderness, and desert. The word desolate is found several times in the New Testament and it is often used to describe the place where Jesus and his disciples would go for rest and to be alone with God. As Jesus was leading his earthly ministry and guiding the disciples, he valued the importance and the impact of finding a quiet, undistracted place to talk with God.
In Mark 1:35, Scripture says “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” While Jesus was praying, Simon and many others were searching for him and after they found him, Jesus replied “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” In the verses preceding his time of prayer in that desolate place, we learn that the whole city had gathered at the door of Jesus where he healed many and cast out demons. He then went alone to pray before moving on to the next town for more ministry.
In both Luke 5 and Mark 1, we see Jesus finding a desolate place to be alone with God before moving forward with the next chapter in his ministry. I can’t help but assume that it was that time with God the Father that helped Jesus have the clarity and discernment and energy needed to complete the ministry he was called to. In Luke 5:16, the time alone with God in a desolate place immediately followed the healing of a man with leprosy. And it set the stage for the spiritual and physical healing he performed as he honored the faith of the four friends and the paralyzed man.
Jesus modeled for all those who would follow him, including Christians today, the importance of finding our desolate place to be alone with God. If Jesus, in all his perfection and sinlessness, found it necessary to escape the crowds and the expectations and the demands of his life by finding a spot in the desert and the wilderness to be undistracted with his Father, then how much more important is it for you and me in all of our brokenness and sinfulness to also make it a priority to find our desolate place to meet God? It doesn’t matter if you’re a pastor or a volunteer, a parent or a child or someone with Down syndrome or autism, God desires for each of us to be alone with Him.
So where is your desolate place? Where is the wilderness or desert in your world where you can be alone with God? Where in your daily life can you follow the example set by Jesus to find an undistracted, solitary place where you can talk to God, read Scripture, and allow enough space for Him to whisper and speak to you through the Holy Spirit?
For me, it’s a comfy chair in the corner of our bedroom while everyone else is either asleep or away from the house. It’s a place where I can sit with my Bible, another book I may also be reading at the time, my neon highlighter (because I love to highlight text) and be alone with God. That’s where I spent a lot of time 5 years ago while seeking and listening to God as He was leading me out of a career in college sports and into full-time vocational ministry. I needed that space to absorb his Word and to listen for Him for discernment, clarity, peace and direction.
If you have that place, then I encourage you to go there as often as you can to be in the presence of God. He desires that for you and for himself. And if you don’t have that place, I urge you to find one now and to make it a priority to spend extended amounts of time alone with the God, who not only loves you but also wants to spend time with you. We’re called to know God and make Him known to others. For us to do that most effectively, let us follow the lead of Jesus by finding our desolate place and meeting God there.