When Set Apart Feels Like Set Aside

Jan 23

I never would have thought that I could move multiple states away and, after more than two years, still have no close friends to share coffee and conversation with. I know you want to email me with a list of ways to meet people. Believe me, I’ve thought of it all. Yet, my heart and soul are drawn to the quiet of home, so perhaps this is exactly where I am supposed to be.

Have you ever felt that way during a season of your life? Have you ever spent weeks or months feeling like you’re missing out on everything the world outside your door is participating in while you rest and read or walk with the Lord?

This is the place I find myself these days. I tried to reach out. I really did. I personally visited two neighbors to invite them to coffee but was ignored, then had lunch with a fellow Christian author I met at a conference who proceeded to talk for more than an hour about her experiences, her books, her accomplishments, and her family. When it was finally my turn to speak, she said she had to leave to meet someone else. Even at church we can feel left out when leadership requires us to jump through so many hoops to “prove” we are worthy of serving that we finally give up.

These are unique times in our country and in the world. God’s remnant has been praying mightily for many years for freedom, peace, and joy to return to our land. Perhaps God is calling many of us right now to be with Him instead of the world. To read the Bible and pray protection over all godly leaders around the world versus meet another friend for lunch.

Or maybe God simply loves us so much He longs to hear our voices worshiping as we pray, trusting He hears and will answer by saving our nation and the world.

I must admit I got a bit depressed when my neighbors rejected me. I took it personally and assumed there must be something wrong with me that they didn’t want to meet for coffee. In that space of insecurity, I hid at home for weeks feeling like I was somehow undeserving of friendship and love.

Only recently has the Lord reminded me of Esther and other strong women in the Bible who experienced great loss and times of silence when all they could do was pray to God and wait for Him to answer. The desires of their hearts were unfulfilled for a time while they were being strengthened in spirit and trained in deeper faith.

Esther’s parents were killed when she was a young girl, so she had to learn to find joy in being raised by her cousin, Mordecai. She was also “kidnapped” by King Xerxes soldiers and taken to the palace to potentially become the new queen. If she had not been chosen, she would have become part of his harem – in other words, she would be a slave woman who was required to go to the king whenever he asked for her to perform whatever duties he commanded.

Though she may have enjoyed the twelve months of beauty treatments she experienced prior to meeting the king, she surely felt alone and afraid at times as Mordecai instructed her not to divulge that she was a Jew.

As God ordained, King Xerxes chose Esther to be the new queen, but she must have found after the celebration banquet that life was very different than she imagined it would be. With Haman speaking lies to the king, the Jews were soon in great danger. Esther was living in luxury in the palace surrounded by maids and eunuchs but likely felt very much alone as she hid her true identity and could not walk in the full anointing of who God created her to be.

What a conundrum! Esther was queen of Persia. She had everything she could want according to the world’s standards, yet she was prevented from living out her true identity as a child of God. That must have caused her soul to struggle in silence. How long would she need to live like that? Would she never again be identified as one of God’s chosen people?

Through it all, I imagine Esther spending significant time with the Lord, walking with Him, talking with Him, praying to Him, trusting in His plan for her life.

And when the day came that Mordecai shared the edict to eliminate the Jews with her, Esther prayed, fasted, and risked her life to stand in the gap for her people as God had prepared her to do.

What has God called you to do?

I praise God that there is no such thing as a harem in the United States. I would be much too old to be chosen anyway. But the silence must feel the same. We are on edge, wondering when God will intervene. Praying He will act quickly and decisively to restore our freedom. But what if God has an assignment for us? What if He calls us to get involved in our communities, cities, and states? Are we ready?

In Psalm 4:3, David speaks to the silence, the set apart-ness that many of us have been experiencing in recent years. “The LORD set apart the godly for himself. The LORD will answer when I call to him.” In David’s running from King Saul, he surely felt the silence and, though he trusted God’s anointing over his life, he must have wondered, “How long?”

It has taken me two years to understand that a worldly feeling of rejection is not always what it seems.

Sometimes the LORD sets us apart to prepare us for a task He will call us to at the right time. Set apart does not mean perfect, and it does not mean we are above anyone else. It means that God has a specific purpose for our lives and, in order for us to accomplish that purpose, we need to be soaked in the Word of God, bathed in His love and light, to be ready to rise when He calls us. Set apart means we are a new creation. We are God’s masterpiece created in Him to do good things He planned long ago for us to do. (Eph. 2:10).

And so, we sit and read and pray and talk with God in the silence, waiting for His direction and timing.

That’s a kind of silence I can get excited about!

You see, God closes doors, even to friendships sometimes, to inspire and motivate us to spend more time with Him and with ourselves discovering who we truly are in Him. How else will we know our destiny and purpose if we don’t know who we are in Christ and how we are gifted to contribute meaningfully to the kingdom of God?

Esther had no idea God would use her to save her people. We cannot fathom what God has created each of us to do, but as we wait patiently with Him, we can be filled with peace and joy knowing He always has a plan. Everyone has gifts to encourage, inspire, serve, and give. The day is coming when we will know more.

Until then, God is our best friend and the lover of our souls. He never rejects us or ignores our prayers. He is continually strengthening us through the silence and trials of life. As we walk hand in hand with Him, we are filled with joy because His lavish love never changes. No matter what we say or do, God holds us close as He molds us into the most beautiful of brides.

Until next time, may the God of peace surround you and fill you with His lavish love.

Donna

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If you are searching for a collection of songs to lift your soul today, listen to Last Best Year – Songs of Gratitude on Spotify and be greatly blessed. You may even start to dance!