Away, Apart, Alone

One of the most valued books in my library is entitled Searchlights from the Word, by G. Campbell Morgan. In this book Mr. Morgan makes comments on a verse taken from each chapter of the Bible. I have made a list of passages upon which Mr. Morgan has commented where I was especially impressed by the comment. In looking for something for today’s meditation, I looked over this list and reviewed Mr. Morgan’s comments on Leviticus 9:23. Once again, I was struck by his profound insights. First, let’s read the passage.

Leviticus 9:23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people.

Mr. Morgan commented on the fact that Moses and Aaron “went into the tabernacle,” the dwelling place of God, before they “came out, and blessed the people.” Here are his comments:

“The principle is abiding. The servants of God, whether prophets or priests, have no power to bless men save as they receive it in direct communion with God. Before we can go out and bless the people, we must go into the Place of Meeting with God. This is so self-evident that it seems hardly necessary to state it. Yet we are perpetually in danger of allowing our very eagerness to serve men, to interfere with our communion with God. To do so, is to fail disastrously. It is only as we serve in the Holy Place, in worship, in silence, in reception from God, that we are able to serve in the camp in work, in speech, in giving to men. Forgetfulness of this is the secret of much futility in Christian work, of much fussiness, of much feverishness. It is the souls who are strengthened, enlightened, quieted in the Tent of Meeting, that pass out to the places and ways of men, carrying blessings with them.”

To this I can but add a hearty “Amen.” We so very much need that quiet time with God apart from the hustle and bustle without if we are to be truly fitted to bless others. As we say in our modern slang, we need to “recharge our batteries.” And our batteries are recharged in communion with God. We experience this communion with God by means of prayer, worship, and reading and studying the Scriptures. In prayer we speak to God. We bring before Him our challenges and problems, and request solutions and help in dealing with them. In worship we praise God for Who He is and the good things that He has done. This puts our problems into perspective and reminds us that we deal with One so much greater than our problems. The reading and studying of the Scriptures are so vital to communion with God because it is through the Scriptures that God speaks to us and reveals Himself to us. Here is where we find the direction we need for meeting our challenges and dealing with our problems. Being thus fortified through communion with God we can go out and be a blessing to others by way of serving, helping, instructing, and being an example.

The importance of this is underscored by the fact that the one perfect man, the Man Christ Jesus, also found it necessary to come apart from the multitudes and His many duties to spend time in communion with God. This point emerges from the following passage:

Matthew 14:22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

There are three words in the passage that describe what our Lord was doing. They are the three words that make up the title of this meditation: away, apart, alone. These three words express what we need to fit us for service to others. We need time away from the multitude. We need to come to a place apart to pray. And we need to be alone. It is in being alone with God, away from the crowd, and apart from everything else that we can experience the undistracted communion with God that fortifies and prepares us to go out and bless others. Without this communion, away, apart, and alone, we will wither, our service will lose its vigour and sweetness, and we will not be the blessing we could otherwise be. We may still be quite busy serving, but something vital will be missing.

As one called to minister to others, I know how important this being away, apart, and alone is. I would grow stagnant and ineffective without it. If the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect Man and Servant, needed to be away, apart, and alone, then how much more does a poor sinner such as I need it. So if you would bless others by your service, then let me encourage you to block out some time and space to get away to be apart and alone with God. Spend sometime in the tent of meeting with God before you go out to bless others. Might it be said of us as it was said of Peter and John of old:

Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.