TIME TO TARRY
It was David H. Bickersteth that wrote: “Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile. Come ye aside from all the world holds dear, for converse which the world has never known, alone with me and with my Father here, with me and with my Father not alone. Come, tell me all that ye have said and done, your victories and your failures, hopes and fears; I know how hardly souls are wooed and won; My choicest laurels are bedewed with tears. Then fresh from converse with your Lord, return and work till daylight softens into even; the brief hours are not lost in which you learn more of your Master, and his rest in heaven.”
Songwriter David Bickersteth captured vividly the charge of Jesus to His disciples while on earth. “And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.” Mark 6:31. The disciples alongside Jesus Himself have been busy so much that they had little or no time for
personal retreats. Jesus in His own custom would always spend time alone in prayer sometimes on the mountain and all night (Luke 6:12) and at other times early in the morning (Mark 1:35), but the disciples were not familiar with such lifestyle. The same challenge is coming to us at this crucial time when the year is drawing to a close. It has been a busy year no doubt, but wisdom demands that we utilize the rest of the year profitably for our own good. “For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.” Isaiah 52:12. Entering the New Year without receiving direction will amount to going out in haste.
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31. It is by setting time apart in His presence that that we wait upon the Lord, and this is how to get strength to run the race in the New Year.
