The feeling of being alone when facing the struggles of life is like adding an even heavier load to the situation. God demonstrated this in the book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 (ESV) — 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
It’s important to feel like another has your back and can be counted on to be there for you as you face life. That is why we need to admit our need for others in our spiritual walk to hold us accountable and to help us grow. Hence the call from being a “lone ranger” Christian to becoming an active part of the local church, seeing the need in being there for others and knowing the value of fellow Christians in your life.
There are times, however, that all of us feel like we’ve been deserted by those closest to us. Perhaps we really haven’t been deserted but during the times we feel alone, it’s as if we had been.
Psalm 27:10 (ESV) — 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.
David gives us insight into feeling alone as the closest people who had always been there for him were not found, BUT the Lord was there for him; therefore, he was not alone.
Isaiah 49:15–16 (ESV) — 15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. 16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
God has given us a great illustration in someone we should be able to count on so we are never alone, our Mother. However, that is not always the case. But God assures His people the certainty of His always being there for them as He describes their place in His life as engraved on the palms of His hands. Oh, there is no forgetting us, nor is there any occasion that we would be left alone by Him.
John 14:18 (ESV) — 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
No doubt the disciples didn’t understand what all was about to happen as Jesus was about to “go away.” Would they be left alone? Are we left alone and set out as those who have no family, like orphans, if you please? No way! Jesus said, I will come to you. He cannot leave us nor forsake us. We are His! We are not alone.
Hebrews 13:5–6 (ESV) — 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
I loved reading the old sermon in which the preacher kept repeating the word, “never” as he read the text above. “I will never, never, never, never, never leave you nor forsake you.” That is God’s promise.
What do we do when we feel alone? Go to the cross. Jesus experienced the ultimate “aloneness” so we never would.
Matthew 27:45–46 (ESV) — 45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Jesus felt forsaken and alone because He was. He alone, by Himself, paid the debt for our sin so we would never experience God turning His back on us, nor would we ever experience a situation in which we would not have His abiding presence in the Holy Spirit. You are not alone.
Isaiah 43:1–2 (ESV) — 1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
No matter what you are facing today or will face this week and no matter how alone you feel – you are not alone – He has promised that He will be there with you all the way.
Godspeed,
Bob Brubaker
