Streams in the Desert

"Go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons."
2 Kings 4:4

The widow and her two sons were to be alone with God. They were not dealing with the laws of nature, human government, the church, or the priesthood. Nor were they even dealing with God's great prophet, Elisha. They had to be isolated from everyone, separated from human reasoning, and removed from the natural tendencies to prejudge their circumstance. They were to be as cast into the vast expanse of starry space, depending on God alone--in touch with the Source of miracles.
This is an ingredient in God's plan of dealing with us. We are to enter a secret chamber of isolation in prayer and faith that is very fruitful. At certain times and places, God will build a mysterious wall around us. He will take away all supports we customarily lean upon, and will remove our ordinary ways of doing things. God will close us off to something divine, completely new and unexpected, and that cannot be understood by examining our previous circumstances. We will be in a place where we do not know what is happening, where God is cutting the cloth of our lives by a new pattern, and thus where He causes us to look to Him.
Most Christians lead a treadmill life--a life in which they can predict almost everything that will come their way. But the souls that God leads into unpredictable and special situations are isolated by Him. All they know is that God is holding them and that He is dealing in their lives. Then their expectations come from Him alone.
Like this widow, we must be detached from outward things and attached inwardly to the Lord alone in order to see His wonders.
It is through the most difficult trials that God often brings the sweetest discoveries of Himself. 
-Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman


When I read Streams in the Desert for the first time, this passage really stood out to me. I had a feeling that someday I might know what it was talking about. It has been saved for me in the "favorite quotes" section of my Facebook profile and I just noticed it tonight. After rereading it, my prayer is that the Lord would use my feelings of isolation to cause me to look more like Himself, and that "the Lord (would) direct (my) heart to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ." (2 Thessalonians 3:5)