August 13, 2020 -- John 6:15 -- Subjecting our will to His

Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

John 6:15 English Standard Version

Jesus had just performed the miracle, what is referred to as a sign in John’s Gospel, of feeding five thousand people. With the gift of five barley loaves and two small fish from a young boy in the crowd, Jesus gave thanks to His Father and broke the bread and fish. The entire crowd ate and there was an abundance of left-overs which indicated all the people had eaten their fill. It is a sign that confirmed Jesus is sent by the Father. It is a sign that confirms Jesus is Who He says He Is.

The people who had just eaten misunderstood the sign. They were expecting a Messiah, a King, who would be political. They expected Jesus would conform to their expectations. The problem is human expectations are base and sinful. People then and people today, we are so bound up in our sins and selfishness, lusts and self-centred desires we cannot see things the way God intended.

Jesus withdrew. More than this, there is an emphasis that is easy for us to miss, Jesus withdrew again. He went up to the mountain to pray, as was His habit. Luke in His Gospel makes this clear. Frequently Jesus would spend time in prayer, even the whole night in prayer. Jesus’s desire was to be directed by His Father in heaven in all things. Jesus would, in His humanity, seek to do the will of His Father in heaven. By His times in prayer, the times He delighted in speaking to and listening to His Father, Jesus put the things of this world into their proper perspective.

Dearly loved children of God, how we need this lesson. As those who are washed by the blood of Jesus so that our sins are forgiven, how much we need to learn to delight in spending time with God our Father. So often we are presented with choices and opportunities that seem golden and perfect for the taking and we are prepared to pursue them. But we do not withdraw and spend time with our Father in heaven. The gentle prompting of the Spirit is ignored, the same Spirit Who would drive us to ask: “Father, is this Your will for me?” We do not search out the Word of God and rely on the Spirit of God to quench our wanton desires and deflate our egos. We wind up in places or situations which make us cry out: “God, how did I get here?!” The simple answer is that we did not withdraw again, to a place by ourselves and spend time with our Father in heaven.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15 This is what Jesus so beautifully demonstrated. He would seek out His Father’s will. He would spend time in prayer. He would withdraw from the clamoring people, remove Himself from the demanding circumstances and allow the Spirit which was given to Him without measure, to direct Him in bringing His deepest needs, joys, sorrows and thoughts before His Father in heaven.

As Jesus taught us, by example and instruction, so we pray Father in heaven, hallowed, praised and blessed, be Your Name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray, Father, let Your will be done in our lives also. Jesus is for us the Way and the Truth and the Life. Spirit instruct our hearts, fill our imaginations with the wonders of what a fuller life in communion with the Father would look like. Spirit direct us so that we, like Jesus and based on the exalted position His redeeming work has given us, will withdraw again and again, to lonely and quiet places so that we can delight in our Father in heaven. Amen.