What Time Alone Can Do

Have you ever gone through a period of time where you were alone a lot or perhaps you just felt alone? My children are gone for a few weeks visiting their Dad in another state. My house is very quiet and I have discovered that being alone for long periods of time is very telling about who I am at a heart level. I am more tempted to sin when I’m alone, after all, who would know? And yet, as I’ve spent days here by myself I’m coming to see the benefit in this solitude and not just as a source of temptation. I am not forced to do anything out of the need to be a good example, or because it’s expected – what I do now is what I desire – be that good or bad. My true heart is exposed, and all because I’m alone.

Exodus 2:11-12 says , "11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand."

If you look closely at verse twelve it says that Moses was alone, and glancing around to make certain of that fact, he then made the choice to sin. As it turns out, Moses’ choice wasn’t a secret and it became known that he committed this murder, so he fled to the desert. There was a span of 40 years between the time Moses murdered the Egyptian soldier, fled Egypt, and when he heard the Lord speak from a burning bush. A lot of changes took place in Moses’ heart in that time period. The Bible says that Moses was a shepherd so we know that he was probably alone most of the time. Apparently that solitude changed him because he went from being a murderer to an obedient servant of God.

Deuteronomy 34:10-12 says, 10 Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11 who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. 12 For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

I’ve had to make a decision to turn to God in the solitude and choose not to sin. My heart’s goal is to walk closer with Him when I’m alone or when I’m feeling isolated like Moses did. Moses’ time in extended solitude changed him into one of the most amazing leaders in the entire Bible. It says in Exodus 33 that God spoke to him “face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.” I long to continue to have that same “face to face” connection with my Father. Maybe time alone is a good thing after all.