Isolation

July 15

2 Chronicles 6-7

Psalm 80:8-11

Proverbs 18:1-2

Romans 11

Isolation

“He who separates himself seeks his own desire, he breaks out in dispute against all sound wisdom.  A fool does not delight in discernment, but only in revealing his own heart.” 

Proverbs 18:1-2  LSB

We were meant to live in community.  It is evident from the beginning of creation.  “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”  Genesis 1:18 LSB  God knew that isolation is a bad thing.  We need each other.  If the year 2020 taught us anything, it is that we don’t function well when we are alone for long periods of time.  It is ok for a few days, but then we need to be back with our people.  Isolation messes with you mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  God designed us as relational beings.  Our souls need companionship, love, and intimacy.  This can come from a marital relationship, family relationships, friendships, your church community, coworkers, classmates, etc.  Each of these types of relationships are important and provide different benefits to us.  It is important to cultivate those relationships because they will play a significant role in our happiness and contentment in life.   Today’s verse in Proverbs highlights one of the reasons we need community.  Those who isolate themselves from others are not open to learning from others or listening to other points of view.  They think their opinion is right and they avoid challenges that might contradict their own desires or views.  We all know people like this.  They are usually very vocal about their opinions and they alienate people and eventually no one challenges their views because they know it won’t do any good.  No one wants to be around them so they end up isolated and alone. 

Whether we want to admit it or not, we don’t have it all figured out.  Sometimes we are wrong.  In community, we can put our heads together to make wise decisions and plans.  When we mess up, we have people who can gently, or firmly when needed, tell us we are wrong.  When we are alone it is easy to convince ourselves we are right and the more we think about it, the more convinced we are.  We need the wisdom of others speaking into our lives at every stage of life.  A fool doesn’t want instruction from others.  They love to hear their own voice and are quick to give their opinion about everything.  They don’t care what other people think and aren’t willing to listen to other views.  We each need godly, wise people in our lives who point us to Jesus and who love us enough to tell us what we need to hear and not just what we want to hear.  If you don’t have people like that, pray that God will bring you some.  Join a small group at your church or a women’s Bible study.  I started a mom’s prayer group at my daughters’ school over 20 years ago and we are still together.  Those ladies have been my people all those years.  We have walked through every season together.  It takes effort, time, and intentionality but it is so worth it!