Jesus Is Still Sovereign
Psalm 68:5-6
When I Feel Alone
In these past 5 weeks have you said one of these phrases more regularly.
“I feel isolated.”
“I want to connect.”
“I need other people.”
“I feel alone.”
There is no doubt that the situation we are faced with at the moment has caused a greater sense of loneliness.
Being alone is not good.
… …
Now, of course, there are times when you want to be alone, or when you choose to be alone, or when you need space, or when you are comfortable being alone. While some of us at the moment might be saying, “I feel alone” … there are others who look at their home situation and say … “I wish I was alone!” I know people who are even enjoying the “alone time” that they have. Being alone in and of itself is not something that is negative or detrimental. Even Jesus needed to be alone.
Matthew 14:23
After (Jesus) had dismissed (the disciples), he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone.
This “aloneness” is not what is in in focus. Rather we are talking about the situations of “forced aloneness.” We see the first case of “forced aloneness” in Genesis 1 and 2.
… the light was good.
… the vegetation produced by the land was good.
… the creation of winged creatures, and sea creatures, and land creatures was good.
But, “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone.’” (Genesis 2:18).
Did you hear that? Being forced to sit alone … going through a season when you feel alone … being in this emotional situation when we don’t want to be … it is not good.
And I’m not just talking about the aloneness which comes because of the coronavirus restrictions. It has been hard, but it has been about 40 days since the strictest restrictions have been in place … and even these are starting to be lifted. It will get easier … and soon. So this aloneness time is hard but temporary.
There is “aloneness” which is less temporary, and more impacting, than what we are experiencing at the moment.
The aloneness of death. A parent. A spouse. A sibling. A friend. We know that for those who are in Christ no even death will separate us from the love of God – the string of death has been taken by the resurrection of Jesus.
But the person is still no longer with us.
The memories we have of them are all we get to hold.
A piece of us, sometimes a very bit piece, is gone.
Closely connected to that is the aloneness of aging. The older we become the more isolated and separate we get. Long term friends pass away. Children and grand-children get busier and busier with their own lives. Progressively older people end up in aged-care facilities where visiting takes more effort. Even our own memories can fade.
Aloneness can just as easily happen to young people. Trying to establish a group of friends isn’t easy. We can find ourselves being on the edge or being forgotten totally. When we are younger friendships easily break – today we are BFF’s – best friend forever – tomorrow we are not even talking to one another. And, now, because you were friends with her, I can’t be friends with you. Oh the joys of raising teenage girls. Youth establishing a peer network. It really is a hard time of life.
Aloneness can come because of the expectations of society. We need to make quite a lot of money just to have the basics in this country. Both husband and wife work to make ends meet, and kids are in school and day-care … then when we get home it is rush, rush rush to do dinner and clean up and be ready for the next day. Then over time there is very little room for other people and more and more it is just your family … and more and more it is just survival. Alone.
In many ways we are more alone than ever. An Australian study conducted, by the Swinburne University and the Australian Psychological Society, from May to October 2018 found the following.
• 50.5% … so that is 1 in 2 … Australians feel lonely for at least one day in a week.
• 27.6% … about 1 in 4 … feel lonely for three or more days.
• 55% of the population feel they lack companionship at least sometimes.
• Of that number 62% were young adults compared to 46% of seniors.
When the lockdown is all over there will still be plenty of “aloneness”.
Now we may look at this situation and say, “Yes, but we are part of God’s family, we have the community of faith, we are not “alone”. That is true. But let me read you a few testimonies of God’s people.
Psalm 25:16-17
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. 17 Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish.
That is the testimony of David, whom God described as being “a man after God’s own heart.” The king of Israel, who is alone.
Psalm 88:17-18
17 All day long (your terrors) surround me like a flood; they have completely engulfed me. 18 You have taken from me friend and neighbour— (in other words I am alone) my closest friend is darkness.
These are the last words of Psalm 88 written by Heman the Ezrahite who was known to be a wise advisor to king David. A wise man with a significant position in the community, who is alone.
We are in a world where many feel alone.
Even as part of God’s family there are times when we feel alone.
God our Creator-Father looks at this situation and he keeps saying “this is not good.” Then in response to this situation God acts.
In Isaiah 53:3 we read about Jesus that:-
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Jesus experienced the pain of feeling alone—rejected, despised, held in low esteem. Indeed when he was on the cross he cried out to God … his own Father … “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). Abandoned, deserted, forsaken. That is ultimate loneliness.
The ultimate loneliness of Jesus is the ultimate comfort to us.
Hebrews 4:15-16
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, who is seated on the throne. Jesus is at the place which is above every name, and power and dominion. Jesus is Sovereign. In his sovereignty Jesus knows what it is like to be alone, and he can fully empathise with our feelings of loneliness, and he can help us to find grace in that time of loneliness.
We see that grace occurring in a multitude of ways.
In His grace God is (Psalm 68:5-6).
5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. 6 God sets the lonely in families.
The Triune God steps into the space which is created when absence and death occur – the lonely set in families. In Christ there is a real sense where the dynamics of relationships change.
Matthew 12:48-50
48 “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
In Christ we are family. This relationship dynamic is able to give us real strength and support when we are feeling lonely
1 Timothy 5:5
The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.
Because this is true for the widow it can be true for each one of us whenever we are feeling lonely or all alone. The times of loneliness drive us to prayer, to call on God, and rely on Him – day or night. That is part of the grace that comes from Jesus.
Another aspect of the grace is the fact that, when we are in Christ, we become a part of the body. In that body we are given an identity.
Romans 12:5
In Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Ephesians 4:16
From Christ the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
1 Corinthians 12:26
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it
If we are feeling alone we have the body of Christ to call upon. When we know others are alone we suffer along with that person. As a church community we do have a calling to be aware of those who are lonely.
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
The orphans, the widows – those who are alone – these are the ones who should be in focus. Keeping people in relationship with the body should be an important aspect of our discipleship because it was important to the ministry of Jesus.
When Jesus launched his ministry he invited others to follow him.
A focus of the ministry of Jesus was for the outcasts and those on the edge to be brought into community.
On the eve of his crucifixion he gathered for a meal with his disciples.
Even on the cross he gave instructions for John to care of Mary his mother.
Relationships were essential to Jesus.
A ministry of building and maintaining relationships should be essential to the work of the body of Christ.
That is how grace is expressed when feelings of loneliness are experienced.
But there is also another way to experience grace. For when we feel alone our natural inclination can be to pull back and wait and see.
Is anyone noticing me?
Will anyone reach out to me?
Do people really care?
In the middle of all these questions we can perhaps take our eyes away from the fact that our ongoing identity as those who are in Christ is to participate in the body, and build up others, as each part does its work. The work of Jesus in my life means he gives me the grace to do my part in the body, no matter what is going on in my life. This grace means I can turn the questions around.
Who do I notice?
Who can I reach out to?
Who needs me to care for them?
In Christ, even when I feel alone, I have an identity. The identity of Christ which lifts me out of my isolation and loneliness … and sets me into His family.
Prayer
