LEFT ALONE!

“So Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak” (Genesis 32:24).

Left alone! What different sensations these words evoke in each of us. For some they mean solitude and desolation; for others, rest and repose. To be left alone without God would be too terrible to express with words; but being alone with him is an anticipated heavenly joy. If more people spent more time alone with Him, we would again have spiritual giants.

The Lord gave us an example. Notice how often he went to be alone. No doubt his recommendation had a profound purpose: “When you pray, go into your chamber and, shutting the door, pray to your Father who sees you in secret” (Matthew 6:6).

Elijah and Elisha's greatest miracles were performed when they were alone with God. Alone with God was how Jacob became a prince, and it is exactly the same way that we can become spiritual princes.

Joshua was alone when the Lord came to him (Joshua1:1). Gideon and Jephthah were alone when they were commissioned to deliver Israel (Judges 6:11, 11:29). Moses was walking alone in the desert when God appeared to him in the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-5). Cornelius was praying alone when the angel came to him (Acts 10:2). No one was with Peter on the roof of Simon the Tanner when he was instructed to go to the Gentiles (Acts 10:9). John was alone on Patmos when he was closest to God (Revelation 1:9).

Covet being alone with God. If we neglect this, we will not only rob ourselves but also deprive others of blessing; because only when we have been blessed can we be a means of blessing to other people.

If the chosen men had never been alone in the deepest silence with God, they would not have done or dreamed anything great.