Marital Separation

When one's life is disrupted, one of the hardest things to do is to wait. This is particularly true when one's spouse has left him. The traumatic impact of that event usually spurs a person into frantic action. Fears, anger, threats, pleas, promises, justifications, demonstrations, suspicions, confusions, manipulations, intimidations--the human soul goes into overdrive.

Yet to wait on the Lord is the best course of action. In Hebrew, to wait means to twist or bind oneself fast to God and thus draw on His strength and endurance. In English, it means "to stay or rest in expectation; to stop or remain stationary, till the arrival of some person or event." Thus by waiting, one positions himself to receive the lovingkindness and redemption of God.

Psalm 130 says: 

I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities (Psalm 130:5-8).

A marital separation is a time to regroup and find out what God is saying. It is a time to face the destructive ways of one's self life and to humble oneself so that God may work understanding, conviction, repentance, and reconciliation.