The Lie of Isolation

The enemy of our souls is lying to us. He tells us that we don’t need anyone else. He says we are good on our own. He likes it when we push others away. He has a strategy to shut us down.

The truth is, there is power in community. There is strength in relationships. It is a fact that we can do more with others than we can on our own. Yet, so often we tend toward isolation. We put up walls. We avoid depth. We refuse accountability. We believe the lie that isolation is okay or even good.

Isolation comes in varying forms. Sometimes it comes in literally secluding yourself from others. At times it is more subtle. Isolation can exist even when you are surrounded by people. If you don’t connect with people beyond a surface level or you don’t let your guard down, you are isolating yourself.

The danger of isolation is we are not created to be self-sufficient. God did not design us to live on our own. True growth, true joy, true love only happens in togetherness. Together, in relationship with God and the people around us, is where true life exists.

When we look back to creation, we see community existed even before the first man was formed. God looked out over all creation and said, “Let Us make man in Our image.” (Genesis 1:26) God Himself represents community. “Us” signifies that God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit participated in creation. Though we don’t fully understand how God works, we understand there was unity and participation found in creation. Man was designed to reflect that same community.

God formed man in His image. Men and women were designed for community with God and with each other. God’s design was clear, and it was not long before our enemy attacked that unity and relationship. In Genesis 3 we read how Satan, in the form of a serpent, deceived the women. Both Adam and Eve disobeyed God.

After this disobedience, Adam and Eve heard God walking by, and they hid. They were afraid and they moved to isolation. Sin and isolation are linked together. When we are not in a good place, many of us push others out. And when we are not walking in relationship with God and we keep our distance from others, we are more prone to sin. It is easier to give in, give up, or give ourselves over to sin when we live alone and for our own purposes.

Just as sin and isolation are linked together, healing and freedom are linked to community. Over and over the Bible challenges us to build strong relationships with others. Listen to one example in James 5:16, “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.” A key to healing from personal sin is sharing our struggle with others. The enemy wants our sin to push us away from others, but God provides another way. Even our most painful and serious struggles can be shared with other believers and in that sharing, we find connection and healing.

Hebrews 3:13 reminds us to “ encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Every single one of us needs encouragement from others. Walking together, encouraging each other, keeps us strong and less susceptible to the enemy’s lies.

In Ecclesiastes 4:12 we read wise advice, “If one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.” Look at your life today. Are you listening to the enemy and isolating yourself? Are you entering a dangerous place where you can easily be overpowered? Choose to flee isolation. Come out of hiding. Enter into God’s presence. Engage in the people God has surround you with. Your life depends on it.

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“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thin that creeps on the earth.’ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Genesis 1:26-27 NASB

“They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ He said, ‘I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.’”
Genesis 3:8-10 NASB