#1 When God Says It Is Not Good! Loneliness.

#1 WHEN GOD SAYS: NOT GOOD? THE BUILDING OF ISOLATION WALLS… THE FEELING OF ISOLATION

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com

In the last days we will face the giants of isolation, fear and loneliness.

I was teaching school. The staff at the school were so nice and encouraging to each other. A new lady started teaching. She would not eat lunch with the other teachers. She took her lunch in her room. All the teachers would visit in the halls and had good rapport before and after school. This new teacher never smiled, she never said hello or had a kind word to say. One day the lady went stomping in the office and complained: NO ONE LIKES ME! The principal jumped to his feet and responded in anger. He said: You never fellowship or talk with anyone. He said: Get your head out of your tail and be friendly. The staff here is wonderful. She had the same problem at a previous school.

Proverbs 18:24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

COME LET US REASON TOGETHER… ISAIAH GIVES US A GREAT ADMONITION AND INVITATION…

COME NOW, AND LET US REASON TOGETHER… BEWARE OF EXCESSES…

WE MUST STUDY AND PONDER BALANCE. JESUS SAID: LET YOUR MODERATION BE MADE KNOWN TO ALL MEN…

ARISTOTLE TAUGHT THE BALANCE OF THE GOLDEN MEAN --- EXCESSIVENESS IS DANGEROUS.…

IT IS VERY GOOD TO HAVE LONE TIME … COME APART OR COME APART? But to stay isolated and alone are not healthy.

Luke 5:16 And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.

GOD SAYS OVER AND OVER: IT IS GOOD…

God made light. God says: IT IS GOOD. God made heaven and earth, separated water from land: IT IS GOOD. God made plant life and said: IT IS GOOD! God made the sun, the moon and the stars: GOD SAID IT IS GOOD. God made fish and animals, it is good. God made the beast of fields and said: IT IS GOOD… GOD SAYS OF HIS CREATION: IT IS VERY GOOD…

GOD’S DESIGN IS PEOPLE COME ALONG SIDE OTHER PEOPLE. WHAT IS GOD’S FIRST WORDS OF “IT IS NOT GOOD?” WHAT IS NOT GOOD? GOD HAD DESIGNED A PLAN FOR HIS CREATION. THERE IS GREAT PAIN AND HURT IN FEELING ALONE.

This discussion does not mean God has planned every person has to be married to a spouse. God tells us it is not good to feel lonely, isolated and separated from God or His creation.

Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

THE ISOLATION OF SPITE FENCES…

Years ago I build a very close relationship with a pastor in our community. We often visited and had sweet communion together. We would exchange ideas and notes with each other. Our friendship grew. This man pastored a larger church than I did. His church was in the middle of the business district. The church property bordered a huge grocery chain store. Often times the customers and the delivery trucks would park in the edge of the church’s parking lot. The pastor would get so angry that people parked in the churches parking lot. He went to the manager and the owner of the store and demanded the parking on the church’s parking lot had to stop. The manager reminded the pastor that they were closed on Sunday and Wednesday night and that the church people parked in the business’ lot.

The pastor did not care. He demanded the parking in “HIS LOT” stop.

After several months the pastor was so angry he approached the board and again demanded they do something about the parking in their lot during the week. The board voted to build a large concrete block fence down the property line to stop the parking once and for all. Several men volunteered and the pastor and his friends dug a footer and mixed the concrete and started laying the block. They would lay a block, leave a space, then another block. The customers and the delivery trucks could no longer park in the church’s lot. This made the pastor so happy. He finally stopped the parking and isolated his parking lot.

Several months later the Pastor purchased a shiny brand new beautiful Lincoln Continental. It was so beautiful. Several months went by with the pastor coming and going. There was no business parking on the church lot. But Sunday morning found a new problem. There was not enough room to park for the church attenders. The pastor never considered this.