But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. Galatians 1:15-17
God gave Paul a really big task: to preach Jesus to the Gentiles. The Gentiles were those outside of the Jewish faith. God was taking the Gospel outside of His chosen people, and He chose the Jew-est of the Jews. Paul was educated with the cultural equivalent of a doctorate degree. He was the leader of the Jews, persecuting those who chose to follow Jesus.
Why was he the one chosen? Was he not safe among the early Christians? After all, he was known to be a brutal killer of those who believed. Can I even say that anymore without my blog being flagged? He was awful to them, and that’s a massive understatement. Very few Christians trusted his conversion until he proved himself a little by obeying God’s calling: to preach the Gospel.
The part of this passage that I wanted to land on is not that though. Why did he not consult any human being? He didn’t go to Jerusalem to talk to the apostles. What’s our first inclination when God tells us to do something? To go talk to people? Or to go to prayer? Paul went to a place where he could be alone – Arabia was a desert. Here, his journey parallel’s Jesus’s journey: first to the desert for a specific period of time.
It’s an interesting way to process life. Alone. In a desert. We tend to process life with people. I talk to my husband; my eldest son talks to me. I love that because it builds connection. But alone in a desert? Without a smart phone or a book, and probably without a journal or copy of God’s Word (yes, they had the Old Testament put together by then, but very few circulated because publishing was expensive). That sounds unrealistic through today’s lens, but both Jesus and Paul turned to the desert. They talked to God alone before moving forward with their missions.
How can we do that today? It’s not feasible to disappear into a desert for multiple years, nor would I want to. I’ll visit the desert, but I prefer the forests of the eastern half of Texas. Instead, we turn our “desert” into short stints outside, sitting on the porch or going for a walk while praying.
God doesn’t tell us to go to the desert, but He does tell us to pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17). This summer my goal is to be more intentional with that. My husband and I decided we’re going to try to pray together every night. It’s a small step, but filling our lives with prayer and Scripture is a choice we make. In that, we seek God like the apostles did.