March 2010   

BEING ALONE   There are times when we feel that we need to be alone and wish folks would just leave us in peace. There are equally times when we are alone and feel that everyone has deserted us, and we become quite downcast.   The feeling of being alone is not new – it goes back to the beginning of time (Gen 2.18,22) – and we find in Scripture several people who felt alone, but who, thankfully, realised that, while there might be no human help at hand, there was always One there who would never leave them nor forsake them. We too can take courage from verses such as Hebrews 13.5: “He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper”; and Isaiah 41.10: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness”.   There was, however, One who knew more than any other before or since what it was to be alone. There were 40 days spent in the wilderness where, alone, He experienced the pressure of being tempted by Satan. There were occasions when He went alone to a mountain to spend time in prayer. He left His disciples behind when He went a stone’s cast further in the Garden of Gethsemane and was alone before His Father as He contemplated the prospect of the sufferings of the Cross. There was the aloneness of the Cross itself expressed in His cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mt 27.46; Mk 15.34), as He fulfilled the purpose of His coming.   But let’s remember this: He will never again be alone. He is at present at the Father's right hand, and in eternity His saints will be in His presence.   Remember this too. Although we may feel alone, we never are, for, as He said to His disciples, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Mt 28.20). He it was who knew the experience of being absolutely alone so that we might never, ever be alone whether it be in time or eternity.