Unfortunately many christians sin by what they say. It is too easy to speak half truths or to talk about something, or someone when we only know half the story. Most of us have been guilty of that. We must remember that ALL sin separates us from God and Jesus.
Onesimus was a runaway slave, and could have been punished by death in Rome at that time. But he became a Christian under Paul. As Paul had already met him at the home of his master, Philemon, Paul took it on himself to try to reunite the master and servant.
When Jesus said My God, why have you forsaken me, He was sensing the separation from God that resulted from the sins of the world. Yours and mine, not His own. If you are feeling far from God ask Him to show you if there is sin in your life.
Sometimes separation results in solitude and danger. Nehemiah was supervising the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem and trying to prepare for all possibilities. He knew there were enemies trying to stop the work. Working alone or with just one or two others was not easy and could be dangerous.
God had clearly told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. And here we find Rebekah, wife of Isaac, unable to get pregnant! Isaac prayed for his wife and the prayer was answered. But it was an uncomfortable pregnancy, so she turned to the Lord herself.
God reads our thoughts, sees our attitudes. He knows when we are going along with the practices of the world. And He rewards those who do not go along with them. Is He calling you today, to separate yourself, maybe just for a short time, in order to seek Him?
In the last verse of the Old Testament God talks of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children. I believe it is a spiritual picture of passing on to the next generation all we have learned so that they do not have to relearn everything from square one.
How easy it is for us as Christians to try to do everything. We are called to be set apart as the Levites were, to serve God in the way He tells us to and in the place He shows us, trusting Him to take care of the bigger picture!
The first outpouring of the Holy Spirit must have been an amazing sight, and an amazing experience. They were all together before they experienced the separation! We do not know exactly how long they were in that room together before this amazing experience. But we know that they were together.
It was not long before the men of Israel were seduced by foreign women, and fell into sin, not only sexual, but spiritual sin too. The foreign wives led them astray, when in fact the Israelite men should have known that their God was the One and only True God.
EN 
FR