Thank you for your thoughts on these things. Interesting when you mentioned Paul gone three years.with God alone in Arabia It may have seemed like a seminary with only one student. Though once a Pharisee of the Pharisees he now needed to fully understand all of the Scriptures in who Jesus is.
He maybe wasn't as lonely then as we may think. Certainly he returned with his same zeal to preach Christ in Damascus and then his desire to do so in Jerusalem cut short by the scepticism of the apostles. But to me what great loneliness for Paul when he was sent back home to Tarsus by the apostles never to be heard from for about the next ten years. As I read your thoughts on feeling or maybe not feeling the presence of God the thoughts you brought up as to why made me recognize that during those ten years Paul may have even questioned the purpose of those three years in Arabia alone with God. And it helped me recognize also that God may not need us until He needs us and may have to send a Barnabas to draw us out to serve God.
Thank you for your thoughts on these things. Interesting when you mentioned Paul gone three years.with God alone in Arabia It may have seemed like a seminary with only one student. Though once a Pharisee of the Pharisees he now needed to fully understand all of the Scriptures in who Jesus is.
He maybe wasn't as lonely then as we may think. Certainly he returned with his same zeal to preach Christ in Damascus and then his desire to do so in Jerusalem cut short by the scepticism of the apostles. But to me what great loneliness for Paul when he was sent back home to Tarsus by the apostles never to be heard from for about the next ten years. As I read your thoughts on feeling or maybe not feeling the presence of God the thoughts you brought up as to why made me recognize that during those ten years Paul may have even questioned the purpose of those three years in Arabia alone with God. And it helped me recognize also that God may not need us until He needs us and may have to send a Barnabas to draw us out to serve God.
It is never because God has left us, but because we have drifted away from Him.
Thank you, Pastor Chris. The practical tips at the end are useful.