Generally speaking, the command to gather is more often emphasized in the Bible (Genesis 2:18, Proverbs 18:1, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, Hebrews 10:24-25), but God also has His purposes in solitude and isolation (1 Kings 9:1-9, Matthew2:13, 14:23, Mark 1:35, 6:31 and 46, Luke 5:16, 6:12, Galatians 1:15-18).
Below are two possible purposes of God to consider in this time of isolation:
1. How is your fast from people going?
Now, I know that this time of isolation is not self-imposed, and so it may not technically meet the criteria for a fast, but it seems to me that there is some overlap in the experience. Although our motivation to self-isolate was motivated at first by a desire to save lives that does not mean that you cannot now approach this time in the same spirit as a fast. The point of fasting is to communicate to God that there is something that you crave more than the satisfaction of your appetites. Man has a deep, in-born appetite for friendship and gathering. We are social creatures by design. However, When you want more of God, and you want Him more than anything one way that the Bible prescribes for Christians to demonstrate that is by temporarily refraining from something that is otherwise good. So when believers want more of God, or they want God’s power they fast in order to communicate that they crave those things more than food or friends. This serves to sharpen and focus our prayers with urgency. Often times, in the Bible God’s people would pray and fast when they had some specific challenge in view, and by fasting every rumbling of their empty stomach caused them to turn to God in prayer. The craving hunger that they felt for food was translated into a craving for God and for Him to move in power. So in these days let every longing to gather with your friends draw you into prayer and a deeper communion with God.
Sometimes the presence of people tempts us to perform seeming acts worship for the benefit of a human audience. Consider the possibility that God desires to use this season to draw you into patterns of worship that focus solely on him. For example, in the sermon on the mount, Jesus commands, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” In these words I hear our God saying “Come away with me. Let’s be alone for a while.”
What we believe finds expression in what we do, and what we do reveals what we actually believe. When a person prays in secret, it reveals that their worship is truly focused on God and is not for the benefit of a human audience. If this is an area where you struggle and are feeling convicted, maybe it will help to make this resolution before God--- “I will not pray publicly until I have made a habit of praying privately.”
2. Love the Ones You’re With
For some of us the problem in this season, at least as it relates to isolation and solitude, is not that we are completely deprived of human contact, but that we miss the width and diversity of our varied friendships and we are in too-close quarters with a select few. There is a thin line between feelings of coziness and feeling confined. However, when we read the books of Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, which Paul wrote under house arrest in Rome while awaiting his trial and eventual execution we see that although the context for Paul’s ministry and calling had changed, his actual ministry and calling had not. If you throw Paul in prison he starts a prison ministry. Scriptures like Philippians 1:12-14 and Ephesians 6:18-20 make it plain that this is exactly what he did. “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard[f] and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.” His letters from that period articulate his heartfelt desire to see his friends on the outside, but he does not look on his time in prison as wasted either. Consider the possibility that God is calling you to a time of more focused ministry among a select few. Perhaps your spouse or children are in need of a more concentrated time of ministry focus. I think it is very likely that years from now as your family looks back on this strange season there will be a lot of laughter and even a longing for this span of days when everyone was home and focused on each other.
What do you think are God's purposes in the midst of this time? Let me know in the comments section.
No comments:
Post a Comment