Thought for the day – Tuesday 12th May 2020
God never wants us to be or feel alone. God is always with us, so we are never truly alone. We choose who to have in our lives, our partners and our friends, so that we can make calls, pop out for a coffee or even just stand and have a chat at the garden gate. It is difficult for us to feel cut off, isolated and shut off from “Normal Life”. Some of us look out at the key workers carrying on as normal, the people not staying in lockdown as they should be and all those people who went too Brighton, just so they could have a beach party.
Isolation is not imprisonment; you are not being told what too do and you will always have a choice about what you chose to do. This isolation is for your protection.
Leviticus 13 v 45 and 46
Isolation of infectious diseases
Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare … He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.
“Lepers” were commanded to live separately from the rest of the people. The Biblical term “leprosy” includes a whole group of infectious diseases. The modern practice of isolating those suffering from infectious diseases was derived directly from the Jews.
…the priest shall isolate the one who has the sore seven days. And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day; and indeed, if the sore appears to be as it was, and the sore has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall isolate him another seven days. Then the priest shall examine him again on the seventh day
The law of Moses also recommended what we know as “quarantine”, which involves isolation and re-examination to confirm the diagnosis in doubtful cases.
People with infectious diseases should be isolated , quarantine is required for doubtful cases
We have seen that the law of Moses given 3,500 years ago incorporates many aspects of modern public health which have only been discovered in the recent past. We can conclude that the intelligence behind the law given to Moses was from a being with knowledge far ahead of the civilization of those days.
We all have family that we long too see, long too hold and be with. Facetime and Skype are no replacements for face to face meetings, they are just the safest ways right now.
Maybe we should view Isolation from a different angle, maybe we should see it being like a retreat, time for us to explore, learn and spend time talking to God. There are no schedules too be done, no having to set the alarm and no immediate distractions that make us say, “I’ll do that later, when I’ve finished this” There are many online forums we can log on to, The Methodist church website has lots of things for us to study, reflect and to get spiritual peace from.
There are so many varied ways we can Communicate, we are only a call, click or tap away from letting someone know that we are ok, asking how they are and even asking if they could call so we can still pray together. There is always a way to communicate, and not feel alone.
Over the coming weeks we all need to pray for guidance for the government and health officials, the relaxing of lockdown is going to be continually discussed over the next days and we hope they use common sense and patience while they are doing it.
If you are feeling Alone in Isolation, Feeling Scared about what’s going to happen next or even just need a good natter with someone, please reach out to one another, we are a Church which means we are Family.