God’s separations, however necessary, may be painful, but never as painful as the separations I bring on myself. Moses had to run away from his brothers in Egypt because he killed an Egyptian taskmaster (Exodus 2:11–15). His was a separation of self-will, violence, and fear. If I try to do God’s will in the same way, I will find myself “separated” also, but it will be a painful separation.
Lot, Abraham’s nephew, suffered the same fate. Unable to control his quarreling herdsmen, Lot chose to leave Abraham and settle in the Jordan Valley “as far as Sodom” (Genesis 13:8–13). The results are well known.
Yet, despite my hasty, self-centered separations, God is still the over-ruling and overwhelming Master of all separations. He used the separation of Moses to prepare both him and the nation for the mighty Exodus from Egypt. And despite Lot’s pitiful attempt to witness for God in a sinful environment, God delivered him out of the holocaust as a permanent witness to His faithfulness in answering prayer.
During my life of discipleship for Christ, I will have to face many separations. Some I must initiate on my own, for I must have no fellowship with the works of darkness. Others God will initiate, as He separates me from my brothers for a time and for a special purpose. And still others I will stumble into because of my impetuousness and miscalculation, resulting in pain and embarrassment, but also producing deliverance and triumph as I turn the tangled strands over to God for His solution.
How wonderful is our God, who provides an “exodus” for us from every painful, hurting separation! “Surely His salvation [deliverance] is near [at hand] to those who fear Him” (Psalm 85:9).
“And there arose such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus” (Acts 15:39).
Daily with the King 