Matthew 28:20b: Never Alone!

Mathew 28:20b “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Have you ever been alone? Have you felt so totally by yourself despite whoever may be around? That horrible  feeling of complete solitude and separation from everyone else is one of the things we find in ourselves frequently. Each person feels it differently and though while some may enjoy the solitude and others may enjoy the separation from the world, no one likes the feeling of enforced aloneness (despite the fact that most of the time it is only in our head).  How we deal with these feelings are as different as we are as well. However,  sometimes that separation and solitude is good for us. Sometimes that enforced aloneness is beneficial. Occasionally that utter isolation is constructive and profitable for us.  You might be saying to yourself ,“Okay, okay! We get the point, now are you going to tell us why?” and so here is the reason. It is when we as believes find ourselves feeling forgotten and most lonesome that we find that we are not forgotten, we are not alone, and we are not by ourselves. This is not some Zen Buddhist riddle!

I have felt alone and as if I am in the desert - alone in the sea of humanity, just like you have. I was so down in the dumps that as the psalmist wrote “for I eat ashes...and drink tears” (Psalm 102:9 paraphrased). It was in one of these periods of time that as I was crying out to God complaining about the situation when He answered and reminded me that He was there, and had always been there. I just  had come to a point in my life that everyone and everything else was distracting my attention and drowning out His presence in my life. I needed to be reminded and to rediscover His constant companionship.  After I thought about this I was able to look back and see that He was right. Just like in that famous poem, “Footprints in the Sand”, those places where I seemed most alone, He was carrying me.

No matter where you are in life, you are not alone. If you are surrounded by friends, family, neighbors, and a good job remember that God is there with you, walking with you in your life. When you are by yourself and facing seemingly insurmountable problems and everyone seems to have left you remember that God is still there and is most likely the only reason that you are doing as well as you are. He is carrying you through those tough times and you won't even know it. You will always have those times where you will feel rejected, alone, forgotten, and isolated, but God is still there. In times like that you will find when you get to the point that there is absolutely no one around and you are absolutely alone, God will be most near to you.

There’s a peace in my heart that the world never gave,
A peace it cannot take away;
Though the trials of life may surround like a cloud,
I’ve a peace that has come here to stay!

Constantly abiding, Jesus is mine;
Constantly abiding, rapture divine;
He never leaves me lonely, whispers, O so kind:
“I will never leave thee,” Jesus is mine.