Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.
Matthew 14:13-14
The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves. The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.
Mark 6:30-35
The Lord has been drilling these verses into me the last couple weeks. It has been discussed in blogs I read, in a message at church, in my own reading time and in other books I have been reading! I have mentioned it a million times, but I must really be hard headed. It seems like the Lord is always beating me over the head with something before I stop and realize it! But I am so thankful for his faithfulness and reassurance!
So a week ago I thought to myself "OK Lord, I get it, I need to put more effort iinto time with You". I repented of my lack of effort and determined to be on fire for His word again. Yet the same verses seemed to still keep coming up. Then I realized He wanted me to look at these verses even deeper.
Not only was it important for me to make time, to come away to a secluded place and rest in Him awhile, He wanted me to consider how I reacted when I was interupted as well.
Jesus was constantly interupted when He was seeking time to reconnect with the Father. But time after time the Bible says that Jesus had COMPASSION on those who interupted.
Yes, time to reconnect is SO important, but the fact of the matter is I will constantly be interupted when I try to take that time. I have 3 small children who need me. Children who are too hungry to wait 10 more minutes for breakfast. Children who need help cleaning up the dog food they just spilled. Even at night it seems like as soon as I sit down to open my Bible is when a child wakes up with an urgent question about the meaning of life,or someone gets sick, or.....
I need to NOT be inwardly annoyed that I did not get to just finish the chapter I hoped to complete. I need to have compassion on these little ones who need me and appreciate the opportunity to cultivate the fruit of service and compassion in my life.
Thank you Lord for Your Wisdom once again!
