Could this time of forced isolation be a great opportunity to get to know our Lord and Saviour in a much deeper way? I was recently led to a book: Destiny and Deliverance presenting spiritual insights from several different Christian authors on the life of Moses. It is based on the animated film The Prince of Egypt, a film designed to present the story of Moses to a new generation in a way never possible.
As Christians today, we are in a very similar position of slavery to that of the Israelites. This has not been a forced slavery, but rather something that has happened slowly over time. There is no doubt that the world with its addictions, its seductions, etc. has led us away from our intended purpose in God. Is this a time for God, through our isolation, to start bringing us back to Him, where he can make us into a new self – in the image of Christ? A call ‘to look at our lives through heavens eyes’ and mount up and set our intent on attaining the top of the mountain. (Hayford)
We see in the life of Christ that He was ‘not of this world’ (Heb. 13:13,14). His life and His testimony were a constant protest conformity with the world. Jesus instead would have His people ‘go forth without the camp.’
When considering the past, we see that our values and pursuits have been and still are too often dictated by other worldly, often confusing voices. We have busied ourselves with accumulating the shiny things of this world, to the point where we have no time anymore to withdraw and intentionally listen to and be led by the voice of the Lord. C.S. Lewis summed it up very well in the Weight of Glory, and Other Addresses,
“Our desires are not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
Like He did with Moses, God seems to be providing time in the wilderness where He desires to start teaching a new group of leaders, who like Moses can learn His faithfulness in keeping His promises, listen more clearly to His voice and get new insight into His wisdom. It would appear that God is starting to tear down the modern Egypt and its ways of bondage over its people and is providing an opportunity to rebuild and re – form society the church and its people according to His actual Word.
We now have the time to get more deeply rooted in Him, to start making Him our foundation rather than the world. Corrie Ten Boom summed it up perfectly, “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God, you’ll be at rest.” (The Hiding Place)
It is a time to build solid spiritual habits in the areas of prayer, listening for His voice and meditating and reflecting on Scripture. Sarah Young hears the Lord saying to her:
When you sit quietly with Me, I shine the light of My Presence directly into your heart…. (Philippians 4:1:19; 2 Thessalonians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 4:17) - Jesus Calling.
Jesus came to bring a new kingdom, where we are bound to Him in a mutual relationship, that transforms us personally, and shapes and empowers us to become agents of change in the world, rather than slaves to it. To help to build a world where Christ is the head and we are the body, where we can grow up healthy in God only as He nourishes us. (Col. 2). “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” (Corrie Ten Boom)
This will happen only if we learn to have an abiding relationship with Christ, follow His voice and leading, to become more like Him and less like the world.
“Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts. For he who finds Me finds life and obtains favour from the LORD” (Prov. 8:34, 35).
Ray Dallin