Musing In The Solitary Place: Intimacy With God

One evening, Isaac went out to inspect the pasture, [to walk around in the pasture or to meditate in the pasture] and while staring he saw camels approaching.-Genesis 24:63

How are you doing with getting alone and focusing on God, daily?  Bible study and reading is a good activity.  Singing worship songs is another good thing to do.  Fellowship and service are other good things.  But what about just you, being still?  You can walk and be still, because being still is about your heart and your mind.

Isaac had a practice of doing something that we could call meditation.  The Hebrew word might be closer to the English word "muse".  To muse means to be absorbed in thought, to reflect, to meditate, to ponder, contemplate, or ruminate.

Meditation is Biblical and Biblical meditation is not the same as in other religions.  Joshua told the Hebrews  to meditate on the Law day and night.  Psalm 1 says the same thing, and many other times in the Psalms, mediation is mentioned.  This kind of meditation means going over again, like how a cow chews it's food.

Isaac did not have a copy of the Bible, but he had a history with God, and his father, Abraham's history with God had been given to him orally.  Isaac was probably concerned with and taken up in thought about various things, but we can only imagine how he must have been concerned about what God was doing in his life.  He was a unique child and had unique parents.  They were very old, and had passed on many stories of their encounters with God.

Isaac was a prophetic person, birthed through a promise, and in whom even bigger promises were yet to be fulfilled.  This is a lot to ponder.  Isaac's promise he carried was that a huge amount of descendants would flow from him, "as many as the stars in the sky", God told his dad one night, while his dad was standing in a field.

Jesus had this habit of getting away, to a solitary place, to pray.  Jesus spent a whole night in prayer before he chose the twelve.  Some people think that everything Jesus did was easy, because he is God; but everything he did, he did as a man, empowered, anointed, and filled with (the) Holy Spirit.  Jesus knew (the) Father, but he still needed to get alone with Him.  It was because he knew Him intimately, that he needed to be with Him.  It is the same with us.  We all need alone time with God.

Isaac was out there musing, in deep thought, pondering, and staring at the horizon.  Jesus also was in his solitary place praying, at times.  But is prayer always making requests and going down your prayer list?  Do you believe that is what Jesus did in prayer, or do you believe he recited the "Our Father" prayer?  He might have, and we do have a record of an extended prayer from Jesus in John 17.

There are all sorts of prayers you can do and practice.  You can also chew on and go over scriptures that are important to you, or that you are trying to assimilate into your life.  You might have promises, yet unfulfilled, from God that you ponder before Him.  You might have disappointments over hope differed, that you offer to God while you are in your solitary place.

But, what if there is a type of prayer where we just be with God and ponder things?  You might have prayer requests, intercessory declarations, and questions.  These are all good.  But, what if you and I also had the habit, discipline, or custom of musing before God?  Reflect and ponder on things while inviting God to be with you and seeking to be with God.  What if that is the higher place of prayer, that we want to go to?  What if that is the way to the portal where we do go into God's presence?