Isolation on Purpose
I am thinking about what is going on in our world and looking for God’s hand in the lives of His people during this time when we are sequestered at home. I began thinking about people who had long times of isolation in the Bible, and it was for a purpose. It may have been forced on them, or they knew the purpose for it, or it became evident later on in their lives what it was about. With us in America, it is probably some of all three. So let’s take a look at some isolation on purpose in the Bible as we seek to gain perspective on what God is doing in our lives.
Forty Days
The first one I think of is the Lord Jesus Christ. The story is in Matthew 4:1-11, and we generally think of it as the time He was tempted. He was there fasting and praying for forty days and nights. At the end of that time, the devil came to tempt Him and that was part of the purpose of His being there, to show His triumph over temptation. But I see another purpose for His being there. All those days alone with God, in fasting and prayer came right at the beginning of His public ministry. I think it was His preparation for the most incredible three and a half years in history. Forty days. So what might God be preparing you for?
Forced Isolation
An isolation that was forced was the Apostle Paul. We have been studying what he went through in his imprisonment on Sundays, but I have another one in mind. This one was a forced isolation. You may recall that Paul was originally a Pharisee, a persecutor of the church with a death warrant for Christians. When he met Jesus on the Damascus road, “immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, He is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20). This totally freaked everybody out. The Christians didn’t know if it was a trick and should they trust him? The Jews were enraged, their poster boy was on the other side, and “They were watching the gates day and night that they might put him to death” (Acts 9:24).
For His Safety
Paul’s isolation would be for his safety, we can identify with that. He barely escaped from Damascus, but God had something in mind for him that would involve isolation. “But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus” (Galatians 1:15-17). No doubt he was itching to go, but God shut him down for three years, in maybe the most desolate place around him, the Arabian peninsula.
It All Fit Together
Paul (at that time Saul of Tarsus) was a great Old Testament scholar, studied in the prestigious rabbinic school of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). Most things about Jesus Christ, especially how He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, is in the Old Testament, and many things predict or foreshadow Him. I think these three years were for Paul to sort and connect for Paul how that it all fit together.
We can see this as we look at his teaching and the focus of his missionary journeys in the book of Acts, like in Thessalonica. “He went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ’” (Acts 17:2,3).
What is God Giving Us to Study?
So during this time of isolation on purpose, what is God giving us to study, to sort out, to think through? Most of the time we never sit still long enough to listen.
The third one I think of is Moses. When we review his life, he lived 120 years (Deuteronomy 34:7) and we would divide up his life into three eras, forty years each, and the one in which God used him the most after the age of eighty! It is the one with which we are most familiar, the Exodus of Israel from slavery, the giving of the Law, the wilderness wanderings to the promised land.
Moses Never Forgot He Was a Hebrew
When he was a young man, by God’s provision he was adopted by the daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt. He was well-educated and rich, but he never forgot he was a Hebrew and his people were enslaved. One day he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and killed him. The next day he stopped a fight between two Hebrews and their reply was “Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” (Exodus 2:14).
Moses Had to Run For His Life
Moses knew he was in trouble, but there was more to it. The Hebrew spotted it when he said, “Who made you a prince or a judge over us?” (Exodus 2:14). Stephen tells us the rest of the story. “And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand” (Acts 7:24,25). He thought they would rally to him and he would lead them to escape slavery and throw off the Egyptians! But that didn’t work, and he had to run for his life.
Isolation on Purpose
God had something else in mind. Isolation on purpose. For the next forty years, he would be herding sheep in the desolate regions of Midian. Moses likely figured his life purpose was over, he’d tried that, and it didn’t happen. So he would herd sheep. And he did that for forty years. But God was preparing him for some of the most incredible things in history. Leading the Jewish nation out of slavery, with some of the most intense miracles God ever did among His people. Being given the Law, the Ten Commandments, the foundation of most of the governments in the western world. Writing the first five books of the Old Testament. Mentoring Joshua, one of the greatest leaders in history. But for forty years, isolation on purpose, preparation.
And one day he would see a bush, burning but not being burned up. And God would say, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). In the name of Yahweh, the great I AM, he would lead the Hebrews out of slavery. Forty years of isolation and preparation, on purpose.
What Purpose Might God Have For the Time He Has Us Shut In?
So what holy ground might we find? What purpose might God have for the time He has us shut in? Do we know how to be still, because in stillness and isolation God does mighty things. Don’t fear this time at home, embrace it. Take the time to learn God’s word like never before. Pray for everyone we know, and then send them a text and tell them you did. Embrace who you are in Christ. This isolation is on purpose, not just to shut down the pandemic, but because everything God does has a purpose.
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:28,29). Do you love God… you know it! Are you called according to His purpose… He says so. So this isolation is on purpose, His purpose. It is for us to embrace it and learn.
Chasing Sunsets – Pastor Clay’s Devotions
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