Week 35: Day 2

Intro: Welcome back to Orbit, I’m Lauren Windle, and I’m going to give you a short reflection to help you put God at the centre of your life today.

Bible: Today's reading comes from Mark chapter 6, and we’re coming in just after Jesus has finished feeding the five thousand with just five loaves and two fish. So we’re reading verses 45 and 46:

Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

Thoughts: These two verses are sandwiched between two of Jesus’ most famous miracles. It’s so easy to miss them and you can see why you would. Just before Jesus performs the most wonderous act of mass catering the world has ever seen and straight after the man walks on water.

Who cares about him giving some instructions to some people and then having a quick pray when there are pyrotechnics like that to behold. Well, this is the absolute wonder of the Bible, that if you take the time, even the most seemingly inconsequential sounding verses come to life and change you.

So here Jesus is tired, he’s been preaching for so long that he had to feed his audience for fear of them missing a meal. In that moment of tiredness and exhaustion, Jesus knew what he needed. First he sent people away. It’s fair to say that Jesus loved crowd, but it’s also key to note that he wasn’t obsessed with them. He knew when to step away from people and rest.

Over the last couple of years we’ve had plenty of time to physically step away from people, but can we all say we’ve known when to step away from the crowds on social media? Jesus knew where the line was between good community and kingdom-worthy influence and stepping away for his own protection and self-care. That’s a balance we could all learn from Jesus.

So after taking the space he needed, he prayed. It was the end of a long, difficult day and in his exhaustion he turned to prayer not away from it. When I’m tired, prayer can feel like a chore. Quiet time with God is so easily the first thing we sacrifice when we could sleep or stream something or play a game instead. While those things may help you wind down – sleep is a particularly strong choice – we easily forget that prayer is restorative in a way that a Netflix series never could be. Just the small action of engaging with God pays so much back but we need to encourage ourselves and each other to see prayer as a pleasure that boosts us rather than a job on our check list.

Pray: Jesus, help me to feel the nourishment and restoration of prayer in the way that you did. Give me the wisdom to know when I would be better off stepping back from the crowds and turning my phone off and give me the strength to do that from time to time. I pray that in my moments of exhaustion, I would enjoy prayer and it would be a source of peace and rest for me. Amen

Silence: There's now just a few moments of silence for you to pray, reflect on these ideas, or simply sit and be still.

Action: Today’s practical challenge may be simple, but many of us won’t find it easy.

This week, pick a day where you’re not out and about, when you’re with you family and spending most the day at home, and fast from your phone. Turn it off before you go to bed the night before and turn it on again when you wake up the next morning. Every time you think of turning your phone back on say a to God instead prayer. That can be a prayer of gratitude, a request for your life or someone else’s or even a prayer of repentance. In a world where we place far too much value on our digital interactions with others, taking one day to refocus and centre your eyes on God will feel like coming up for air.

Outro: That's all for Orbit today. Check back in tomorrow and we’ll be back with another reflection.