Come Ye Yourselves Apart And Rest Awhile

One morning these words came to my mind (“Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile”) and I felt the desire in my own heart to rise above myself and anything that would hinder me from truly being apart. I remember being in meeting and lots of thoughts were flooding my heart and that meeting had no effect upon me because I was not apart.

In Mark 6, it tells us of the time when John was beheaded because of standing for what was right. He didn’t compromise and he lost his life. We were hearing in the workers’ meeting of standing on the Rock foundation and standing by what Jesus says. John did that, and lost his life. It says when the disciples heard, they took his corpse and laid it in a tomb. Vs. 30 “The apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus and told him all things both what they had done and what they had taught”. And Jesus said “Come ye yourselves apart in a desert place and rest awhile.” They would have been disturbed. They would have been agitated. They gathered themselves to Jesus and told him all things that they had done and what they had taught. They expressed their feelings to him. He saw their feelings despite their adversity. He said to them, “Come ye yourselves apart.” ‘Lay aside your thoughts, your feelings and come apart and rest awhile.’ Their feelings would have disturbed them, agitated them. It was necessary for them to ‘come apart and rest awhile’. There are things that would agitate us, disturb us, but God wants us to come apart, leave ourselves behind, rise above those things, and come apart and rest. If we come with that feeling, it wouldn’t hinder us from being apart with Him. It says of Jesus that he fed them. They ate and they were filled. It was necessary.

I thought of Hannah, and of Elkanah taking his family every year to Shiloh, the place of tranquility and quietness, but there were disturbing thoughts for Hannah. She was agitated. There were those in that meeting that received help and there were those that did not receive help. It says of Eli’s sons that they were there, near to the Ark, but far away from God. They did not get help. Hannah went to Shiloh with the spirit that could not get help. She was not apart. She went with bitterness of spirit. It says of her that she poured out her soul. Shiloh was the place of rest, tranquility. She was disturbed and agitated, but she went to the One whom she was able to pour out her soul to. It says of her that she arose and ate and she went home. Before that, she could not eat. She wept sore and she prayed. It was in desperation. The need was great. There was a lack in her own self. She prayed and the need was met. She went home in a different spirit. The conditions did not change, but she was changed to face the situation. She was apart.

The last meeting Jesus had with His disciples, Judas was there and Jesus said, “Ye are clean, but not all.” Judas was in the same meeting, but he was not apart. What was said did not affect him, did not touch him, did not cleanse him. It is very serious. We could be here and not be affected by the Word of God, not cleansed, not touched and go away in the same way. When Judas left that meeting, it was night; darkness in his experience and he was not touched nor cleansed. I thought of what James said in 1st Chapter vs. 21. “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” We need to lay aside anything that would hinder us so that we can receive the word of God that is able to save our souls. May God help us that we would receive from Him that which could help and strengthen us. – Juliet Harper