Meditations

I'll leave his last name unannounced for anonymity sake but let me say, "Thanks for your heart and your words Ben. This is what I needed." Praying for your internship.

I'm struck by how hungry Jesus was for fellowship with His Father. How sweet those encounters must have been! How jealously Christ guarded these divine appointments from other worldly distractions! Compelled by utter necessity and a deep longing, "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (Luke 5:16). If our Redeemer daily left the crowds and ran to the throne of Grace to worship and petition and wrestle and wait...what are the implications to our living? I think Scripture makes clear to us that God is most glorified when belief births action...when dependence upon the Lord becomes more than a theological proposition and begins to look like a desperate, child-like reliance upon a God who declares that He is faithful. Thus, when Jesus went off to pray in seclusion, He was doing so much more than simply offering an example for his disciples. He prayed because He was commanded to, because He longed to, because he needed to...because His Spirit reveled in humble submission at Abba's feet. As I consider the wonder of Christ while I type this...I remember that His wounds bought my access to the Mercy Seat, He is my Advocate in Heaven...actively mediating my prayers. Surely, "As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after you, O God" (Psalm 42:1). As for today, I yearn for communion with the only One who knows me perfectly...who loves me perfectly...who delights in me for His Name's sake. And when sin hardens my heart and stifles the song in my soul, I will by grace repent and believe my Shepherd's voice: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).

Ben from Athens