Never Alone

 

John 16:32  Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

There are times when we just want to be alone. Pull away from the noise of the world and the distraction to focus and contemplate on life. Time to examine who we are and where we are going. Time to reflect on where we have been and what our next steps will be moving forward. Being alone is often necessary in order to muse over our relationship with God and others. Being alone on purpose is not the same as being lonely. Loneliness is an emotion that is triggered when we feel no one cares, the absence of feeling we are not loved. It often leads to depression and lack of self-worth. Even though born in sin, we are made in the image of God. We are His creation, therefore the Father values who we are. We may find ourselves in a state of loneliness, but we truly are never alone. Others may scatter about, giving no attention to our presence, but the Father will never leave us alone. He loves the sinner, and He loves those who believe. To the sinner, God seeks to have a relationship. The Holy Spirit works in the life of a sinner to reveal their sinfulness, and bring them into fellowship with his creator, never to be lonely again. To the believer, Satan will discourage us into thinking that we are all alone. Tribulations come, and it seems that we are facing them alone. This is the feeling the disciples had when they were out to sea and the storm came. They cried out, “Master, don’t you care that we perish.” (Mark 4:8). In other words, “Why have you left us alone to die?” Jesus warns us that we will face hard and difficult times in this life, and times when we will feel that we are all alone. He reminded his disciples that even though others may scatter, and hard times come, that the Father will never leave us. When Jesus left this world, He promised us the Holy Spirit, the comforter, that would go with us and be with us in every trial and tribulation we face. No matter what Satan says, we are never alone.

He Will Not Abandon Us

 Psalm 9:10

And those who know Your name [who have experienced Your precious mercy] will put their confident trust in You, For You, O Lord, have not abandoned those who seek You.

 

Feeling of abandonment is experienced by many who feel that no one cares about them. Children in foster care often deal with feelings of abandonment. Regardless of the reason, they feel mom or dad did not love them enough to keep them. Abandonment leads to loneliness, and loneliness to depression, and depression leads to unpredictable behaviors. Most people want to be connected and feel like they are wanted. There are the rare individuals that always want to be left alone, but even they want to have someone in their lives that will care. Regardless of what life brings us, we have the promise that God will not abandon us. If we seek His name, put our trust in Him, He will be there with us and for us. We are told that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. We always have a friend in Jesus, He will never leave us or forsake us.

The Lord Stood With Me

2 Tim 4:17 “Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me”-

Loneliness and feeling forsaken by others can be a depressing emotion. People get busy with their lives and it is easy to forget that there are other people who may be going through some difficult times. There are times that we may be walking through the valley of the shadow of death, and everyone around us is clueless of the battles we are fighting, or the lonely walk we trod. Paul sat behind prison walls and there were few who took the time to go see him. He was human and no doubt he was confronted with temptations of self pity.  He did not cave in to those thoughts, he remembered his calling and mission that God gave him. He believed he was doing God’s will and trusted God to take him through. He was not alone, God stood by his side to comfort and strengthen him. Even in valley, He is there, He will never leave us alone, no never alone. A comfort to know that God is there, even when others have forsaken us.