Though the phrase alone gives images of a lonely saviour on a tree, being alone can also be good. Jesus often was alone in prayer:
“At once the Spirit sent [Jesus] out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.” (Mark 1:12-13)
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” (Mark 1:35)
“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” (Luke 5:16)“Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them.” (Luke 6:12-13)
George Fox the founder of the Society of Friends is an example from history of a man who spent alone time. “I fasted much,” Fox says, “walked about in solitary places many days, and often took my Bible, and sat in hollow trees and lonesome places till night came on; and frequently in the night walked mournfully about by myself; for I was a man of sorrows in the time of the first workings of the Lord in me… Though my exercises and troubles were very great… I was sometimes brought into such a heavenly joy that I thought I had been in Abraham’s bosom…”
For instance, one day when he was walking in solitary prayer he writes, “I was taken up in the love of God… it was opened to me by the eternal light and power and I… clearly saw that all was done and to be done in and by Christ, and how He conquers and destroys this tempter the devil, and all his works… and that all these troubles were good for me.”
Scripture says “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
Let’s withdraw to pray alone at times, lets remember to be still, to know Him as God.
