THE LORD IN THE MORNING

The lives of servants in New Testament times must have been demanding, not least in the realm of time; there would be little spare time. We cannot read Mark’s Gospel without realizing how busy our Lord was, and how demanding His service, to such an extent that He and the twelve on two occasions had been so occupied that they had no leisure, so much as to eat, 3. 20; 6. 31. It comes as no surprise to find the first reference to our Lord’s praying in Mark is in the early morning, before work began, 1. 35, even though He had been extremely busy the evening before, vv. 32-34. There would be little opportunity to ‘shut [the] door’ later, Matt. 6. 6.

However, there are other reasons why the Lord prayed when He did. The service of the Lord was at the Father’s bidding. In Isaiah chapter 50 verses 4 to 6 we read of the Servant being wakened ‘morning by morning’, his ‘ear’ being ‘opened’ and wakened to ‘hear as the instructed’ JND. The Lord waited upon God before the day commenced for the teaching He would give, the actions He would perform, the paths He would tread, John 5. 19, 30. As we peruse our chapter we hear ‘the tongue of the learned’ in verse 22; we see the weary sustained with a word in verses 30 and 31; and the Lord not being rebellious in verses 38 and 39. Later, He will fulfil Isaiah chapter 50 verse 6, and not hide His ‘face from shame and spitting’, giving His ‘back to the smiters’.

Did the Lord view prayer as supplementary to, or an integral aspect of, His work? Was prayer just as much work as preaching or cleaning His sandals? Was prayer the key aspect of His work; that which made the rest of it effective and God-honouring? Does prayer make fit for work and work necessitate prayer? We can cut, hammer, and nail so busily that the architect has no opportunity to discuss His plans with us. We must view verse 35 in the context of verses 32 to 34 and 36 to 39. Similarly, the apostles viewed their work, as ‘prayer, and the ministry of the word’, Acts 6. 4.

To rise early to pray was the Lord’s practice; the Psalms furnish us with many examples, 5. 3; 59. 16; 63. 1; 88. 13. When God’s perfect Servant prayed is when assuredly His fallible servants ought to pray. Surely, He is our example.