Isolation – Proverbs 18:1

Sammy was a black man from the Dominican Republic and Mark a white man from California, and they ended up good buddies.  They had something in common.  In 1998 they were both contenders in major league baseball to break Roger Maris’ longstanding record of 61 homeruns in one season.  Sammy Sosa played for the Chicago Cubs, arch rivals of Mark McGwire’s St. Louis Cardinals.  Before the two teams were to play each other on Labor Day these two competitors held a joint news conference.  Sammy Sosa was sitting on 58 homeruns, Mark McGwire on 60.  But all the two of them would do was wish the other well, joke and banter, and, as one newspaper reporter said, “couldn’t stop grinning, locking eyes, bumping shoulders, laughing and generally having a ball sharing the moment.”  No one else alive knew what they were going through, the pressure, the need for focus, the constant questions from reporters, the scrutiny, the expectations of the fans.  They could have chosen to isolate thinking no one else could understand them.  But this shared experience was what made these two unlikely friends soul mates, despite so many other differences.  And when McGwire hit #61 on Labor Day, at his first opportunity Sosa gave him a big hug and congratulations.

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire;

he breaks out against all sound judgment. (Proverbs 18:1, ESV)

When I attended seminary I noticed several of my classmates seeking out relationships with faculty members, usually the more famous ones who had written books and published study Bibles.  I became contemptuous of them and thought it only glory seeking, so I chose not to seek out any mentors myself.  I isolated myself from a source of wisdom and only came to my senses in my last year at school.

After some time outside of school and teaching and working in my church I overheard my wife talking to one of our class members who said he didn’t feel like he knew me.  I had been isolating myself emotionally from people, seeming social enough but not really very transparent.

There are many ways in which we can isolate ourselves.  We can be reclusive, we can refuse the help of others, we can deem ourselves above others, etc.  But we are breaking out against all sound judgment when we do.