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We need to learn from the pattern of the Lord living a hidden life in His going up to the mountain privately to pray (Matt. 14:23; cf. Luke 6:12):
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The Lord did not remain in the issue of the miracle with the crowds (the miracle of feeding five thousand men, apart from women and children), but He went away from them privately to be with the Father on the mountain in prayer (Matt. 14:14-23):
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The Lord compelled the disciples to leave Him in order that He might have more time to pray privately to the Father (vv. 22-23).
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He needed to pray privately to His Father who was in the heavens so that He might be one with the Father and have the Father with Him in whatever He did on earth for the establishing of the kingdom of the heavens; He did this not in the deserted place but on the mountain, leaving all the people, even His disciples, so that He might be alone to contact the Father.
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We should treasure three phrases—to be with the Father, on the mountain, and in prayer:
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To pray with others is good, but often we need to pray by ourselves; when we pray with others, we cannot enjoy the Lord as deeply as when we pray to the Lord privately.
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Even the Lord Jesus told us that when we pray, we should shut our door privately and pray to the Father who sees in secret (6:6); then we have the sensation of how intimate He is to us and how close we are to Him.
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We have to learn to leave the crowds, our family, our friends, and the saints in the church to go to a higher level on a “high mountain”; we have to go higher, far away from the earthly things on a lower level; we need to get to a higher level, separated from the crowd, to be with the Father privately and secretly to have intimate fellowship with Him.
Morning Nourishment
Matt. 6:6 But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.14:22-23 ...He compelled the disciples...to go before Him to the other side....And after He sent the crowds away, He went up to the mountain privately to pray. And when night fell, He was there alone.
After performing the miracle [of feeding five thousand men, apart from women and children], the Lord went up to the mountain privately to pray (Matt. 14:23; cf. Luke 6:12).
The Lord did not remain in the issue of the miracle with the crowds but went away from them to be with the Father privately on the mountain in prayer. If we go to a certain place and have a great success, would we leave right away, or would we remain in this big success to enjoy it? We need to see and follow the pattern of the Lord Jesus. He did not remain in the issue of the great miracle that He performed. Instead, He went up to the mountain privately to pray. The word privately is very meaningful. This means He did not let the people know that He was going to pray. Otherwise, they would have followed Him. He went away from them to be with the Father privately in prayer. I like these three phrases: to be with the Father, on the mountain, and in prayer. We should learn from the Lord's pattern here by exercising to be with Him on the mountain in prayer. His looking up to heaven [Matt. 14:19] means that He had no trust in Himself. His going up to the mountain means that He wanted to be with the Father in prayer. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” pp. 564-565)
Today's Reading
Standing in the position of man (Matt. 4:4), the heavenly King, as the beloved Son of the Father (3:17), needed to pray privately to His Father who was in the heavens, that He might be one with the Father and have the Father with Him in whatever He did on earth for the establishing of the kingdom of the heavens. He did this not in the deserted place but on the mountain, leaving all the people, even His disciples, that He might be alone to contact the Father. (Matt. 14:23, footnote 1)The kingdom people must have some experience of praying in their private room, through which they contact their heavenly Father in secret, experience some secret enjoyment of the Father, and receive some secret answer from Him. (Matt. 6:6, footnote 1)
To pray with others is good, but often we need to pray by ourselves. When we pray with others, we cannot enjoy the Lord as deeply as when we pray to the Lord privately. Even the Lord Jesus told us that when we pray we should enter into our private room and shut our door and pray to the Father who sees in secret (Matt. 6:6). Then we have the sensation of how intimate He is to us and how close we are to Him. We have to learn to leave the crowds, our family, our friends, and the saints in the church to go to a higher level on a “high mountain.” We have to go higher, far away from the earthly things on a lower level. We need to get to a higher level, separated from the crowd, to be with the Father privately and secretly to have intimate fellowship with Him. This is the significance of being on the mountain in prayer.
His going up to the mountain privately to pray indicated His asking the Father to bless all those who had participated in the enjoyment of the issue of the miracle that they would not be satisfied with the food that perishes but that they should seek for the food that abides unto eternal life and recognize that He was not only the Son of Man but also the Son of God who was sent and sealed by the Father and who could give them eternal life [John 6].
His going up to the mountain privately to pray also indicated that He wanted to receive of the Father some instruction concerning how to take care of the five thousand people fed by His miracle. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” pp. 565-566)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” msg. 14