The other day I had my praise and worship music playing quietly in the background while I was reading my daily devotional (more out of habit and less about devotion), when I read a line with the phrase, “I set you apart”. Simultaneously the song I was listening to sang out, “I set you apart”. I couldn’t believe what had happened. I realize most of you will say that’s a coincidence, but my God doesn’t work like that.
I get it, it’s a you-had-to-be-there moment, which I might add is how God works, but it was remarkable and profound to me in that moment. I needed to hear from God so desperately. I wasn’t tuned in enough to comprehend what I was reading until I heard and said with my mouth, “I set you apart” like an echo reverberating in my head and chest. “I set you apart”.
In complete brutal honesty and vulnerability, sometimes I feel set apart but not in a good way. As if I’m being isolated or put in time-out, a punishment for my sins and behavior. Before yesterday, I begged God, “why did you set me apart? Why can’t I bob along through life like everyone else? Why do I have these problems?” I was angry at God. But in this moment when I heard and said, “I set you apart”, peace washed over me, that peace that only God can offer, and no one can explain, that “peace that passes all understanding”.
Even though we walk through this earth and the muck and the mire, God has never left me or you. To the ends of the ages, He will never leave us. Life is so tough, I wish it weren’t but as I always gently remind myself that it’s not my home and an easy life, though full of sin, is not what I’m meant for. I fully believe the devil taunted and tormented my thoughts and I didn’t take them captive like I should’ve. I was letting them swallow me whole and believing each wretched thing I thought (or screamed) about myself. I felt myself go deeper and deeper into the pit until I heard the words, “I set you apart”.
More than anything, you who are reading this, I want to say, “YOU ARE NOT ALONE!” Even though you may feel set apart in the worst way, He’s working behind, beside, and ahead of you, preparing the way for the PERFECT time. Wait on Him and rest in the peace that only He can give you. So, when God says, “I set you apart”, believe Him, even if it’s moment to moment that you have to be reminded. I know I do.
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