03/21/2019
Are there times when you feel alone? Loneliness doesn’t mean that you are necessarily by yourself... we can feel it in a crowded room. We can be in a sports arena surrounded by thousands of people, and yet suffer the pangs of loneliness as if we were abandoned on an uninhabited island. This feeling isn’t a physical one, but a mental, and spiritual one; yet in Jesus, and before our God we are never alone. The Holy Spirit was given to us for this very reason... so that we would not be alone in our faith.
“Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.”
John 16:32 ESV
Jesus is telling His disciples that even when they are not with Him, and it appears that He is alone, God is with Him. This is what we saw as He prayed at Gethsemane, and this is what each of us should experience in our own prayer closets. To the unfaithful eye it may seem to be a lonely place, but it is not. Within us is the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, and God... although it seems to those who are without faith that we are talking to ourselves , we are never left to ourselves. Listen to the words of Isaiah as he speaks of God...
“fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Isaiah 41:10 ESV
And listen to Jesus...
“teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."”
Matthew 28:20 ESV
In each of these scriptures we heard four wonderful words of assurance “I am with you.” When you are overcome by loneliness call on your faith, and look to the Holy Spirit who will bring to your remembrance those things that Jesus has said, and also the things He has done in this day and time within your life. We are never alone, nor should we feel lonely.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.”
John 14:16-19 ESV
I knew a man who appeared to be talking to himself wherever he went. As you approached him you could hear that he was having a conversation with someone, and yet you couldn’t see anyone else there. It was like listening to someone as they talked on a cellphone; you could only hear one side of the conversation. When we see someone talking on their phone we are confident that there is someone on the other end of the connection listening and talking back, but when we come upon someone without such a device then we think that they are mentally disturbed. I thought this man was disturbed, but as I came closer I could hear that he was talking to the Lord in prayer. Wherever he went he was in prayer, and if you listened in on the conversation it often blessed you. To the unbeliever this man was deranged, but to me he was no different than those same unbelievers as they spoke into their mobile phones. He was never alone, and his faith was steadfast... never wavering. Then came the invention of the earbuds, and those same unbelievers began to walk around talking, and it appeared that they too were carrying on a conversation into the thin air.
The man I knew was not alone, those talking on their phones were not alone, Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane was not alone, and no matter where we are... we too are not alone, but we are sometimes like the lonely person in a sports stadium; in the midst of the crowd we find a sense of loneliness. When this happens listen to what Moses said to Joshua, and take heart...
“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."”
Deuteronomy 31:8 ESV
When you are lonely put in your spiritual earbuds, and call God. If you are self conscious about praying in public because you think others might see you as deranged, then put your cellphone up to your ear, or put in your real earbuds... people will walk right by you and not give you a second thought!
Loneliness can be like the ringing of a telephone... it is calling us into a conversation, and relationship, with God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit; so answer your phone, and silence the loneliness as you talk to your dearest Friend and Father.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for never abandoning me, or leaving me alone. Thank you for loving me when no one else seems to care that I am here, or wants to know me. Thank you Merciful Father for calling out to me amidst my grief, suffering, and loneliness, and for pouring your love over me like an oil; a healing salve. Help me Gracious Lord when I begin to slip into a trough between two high points in my life, and feel alone there. Lift me up Father, and let me see that you are forever here beside me. Give wings to my soul, and joy to push aside the misery that pursues me. Let your goodness and mercy flow into the void made real to me by depression and loneliness, and show me that I am never alone, never unloved, and that I have a friend in you. Holy, Holy, Holy are you my God who is with me always, and knows the depths of my heart. Great is your mercy Lord that pulls me with strong arms from the pits of despair, and seats me at your table. Praised be your name always, and Glorious your grace that comes in my most undeserving hour to rescue me.
“You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
John 15:14-16 ESV
Rich Forbes