Jesus had just received the news that His beloved older cousin John the Baptist had been executed.

All He wanted to do was withdraw and be alone with His Father in heaven to pray and be strengthened in His time of sorrow.

All of us who have suffered the loss of a loved one can appreciate the action of Jesus in seeking a quiet place to grieve and seek comfort from our heavenly Father.

There are times when everyone finds encouragement in a quiet place—away from the busyness and noise of everyday life.

However, in this instance, the crowds who had received much blessing from Jesus' teaching and healing powers, quickly followed Him to seek more grace from Him.

Jesus knew that He too would soon be violently murdered by people whose hearts were full of hatred toward Him.

Perhaps He wished a time alone to regroup and get His mind focused on the horrors that awaited Him in Jerusalem. Whatever the reasons for His great desire to be by Himself, we understand He wanted a break from the incessant work that occupied Him constantly.

The crowd that found Him in the quiet place of retreat never gave it a second thought that Jesus might be tired and in need of privacy at that dark time in His life. All they knew was that there was great blessing if you were with Jesus so they did not give Him any rest.

The people that followed Jesus into His place of quietness and solitude were of the opinion that Jesus was never too busy to help them in their time of need. This attitude toward Jesus is something we all need to understand and adopt as our own way of seeing Jesus.

No one is too humble or insignificant for the time and help of Jesus.

All through His ministry our Saviour demonstrated over and over His compassionate heart toward the needy and His willingness to hear them any time and in any place.

No, Jesus is never too busy for anyone. He desires to have the poorest and most insignificant draw near to His compassionate heart.

Look to Him today, for He's just the same now as He was so many years ago.