The Doorpost: Are we ‘too busy’ to pray?

That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”
Mark 1:32-38

The entire city was at the door. There was a tremendous opportunity for ministry. Jesus ministered to them until late in the evening. What would we have done in this situation? Would we have gotten up the next morning “a great while before day” to go out and pray? Would we then have left this opportunity for ministry to go somewhere else? Why did Jesus do this?

In John 5:19, Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing of himself.” Jesus depended totally on His Father for everything. Even after a late night of tiring ministry opportunity, the next morning He cared more about spending time with His Father than about getting more sleep. The guidance He received led Him to go to another city even though there was still much to do right there. Luke 5:16 indicates Jesus did this often. In Luke 6:12, we learn that the night before He chose the 12 apostles, He spent the entire night in prayer.

How many of us sometimes think we are so busy we don’t have time to pray? How many of us try to minister to others without spending time praying to our heavenly Father? We need to give prayer the same priority in our lives that Jesus gave it in his.