Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a change to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” MARK 6:31 NIV
During a trip to Chile to visit my father’s family, my wife and I toured the countryside to see some of the nearby natural features. It turned out that we were staying only a couple of miles from an active volcano! When most people hear that they are near an active volcano, they usually go in the opposite direction, but not us-we drove up into the mountains to get closer to the volcano. As we drove up the mountain, we started seeing little clues that we were approaching an active volcano. The first thing we saw was an occasional steam vent, where small puffs of steam were escaping from the ground. Farther up, we came across a huge hotel resort that offered hot springs baths that customers could bathe in. We continued driving higher till the road finally ended.
We couldn’t actually see the entire mountain because it was covered by a cloud, but we could see up far enough to see a huge slope of pumice with scattered boulders and steam vents. It looked like a landscape from another planet. We decided to climb up a bit, just to see how far we could go. Walking in pumice is not easy. The loose volcanic material gives away easily. For every two steps we took up it seemed that we would slide down one.
This made hiking up the mountain very difficult. Soon we had hiked up so far we couldn’t see where we had left the car behind. After a while, the group didn’t want to hike anymore, but I continued alone for another hour or so. When I finally stopped my family was way below me and I felt completely alone on the mountain.
I clearly remember thinking how quiet and peaceful it felt up on that mountain.
Even Jesus needed time alone sometimes.
God created the Sabbath so that we could have some time alone with Him. Look for opportunities to be alone with His Word. Listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say today.