Never Alone - Pas. Jasiel Ferdinand

My mind goes back to the time when I was a child. We lived in a house, which had an asbestos roof. Many a night I would be woken up with the rain pounding on the roof along with the flash of lightning and the roar of the thunder. As a scared little child, I would call out to my parents who were in the next room. They would reassure me that they were there for me. That was so comforting and somehow I would go back to sleep knowing that I was okay, knowing I was not alone.

We often face the storms of life, which come through personal failure, loss of dear ones, broken relationships and so on and we know what it is to feel lonely. We often encourage each other, we talk about it in our churches, and we underline and emphasize the need to reach out to people who are lonely because we know the awfulness of that situation. But still it is a fact that though surrounded by people, one can still feel all-alone.

Often people think everyone living in the cities should be a bunch of happy fulfilled people. But therein lies the irony. Even these cities portray a picture to the contrary with Bangalore having the highest rate of suicides in India. Are these turning into cities of wealthy, fun-seeking but lonely unfulfilled people? Wherein lies the secret in dealing with this problem? My mind goes to the Lord Jesus and how He faced it. In His hour of greatest need as He faced the cross, He shared with His disciples about His coming trying times. Peter would say, “Not so Lord”. James and John were concerned about whether they could sit on either side of Him when He entered into His kingdom.

For all that is said about the Gospel of Judas, the fact remains that even Judas betrayed Jesus. But the ultimate feeling of being alone came when Jesus cried on the cross, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” It is ironical that 2000 years later the One who knew ultimate loneliness says to you and to me “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Heb 13:5, NRSV). And He IS true to His promise.

The Scripture is full of examples of people who faced loneliness whether it was Elijah sitting under the juniper tree thinking of ending it all, or Jonah in the belly of the fish or even Jacob just before he met his brother Esau after years of separation. This feeling has been an age-old problem passed down through the ages, and one that still confronts every single one of us today. We are first of all faced with a decision to choose between two options. One being the FACT that the Lord says

He will never ever leave us alone. On the other hand the FEELING of loneliness, which often far outweighs all else. We need to be able to focus more on the fact than the feeling and believe it with all our heart even though our circumstances may seem contrary. If we believe that the Lord is always true to His word, we just hold on to that and know that He will bring us through. Secondly be occupied with something. I have also found that my periods of loneliness give rise to inactivity in my life. I seem to drop everything around me and just sit around focusing on the fact that I am lonely. I have realized as the saying goes, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop,” and when I build activity into my life, it does help my situation a great deal … the ideal being helping out someone who is worse off than me.

And those kinds of people can always be found around us. There is always someone with a bigger problem and a greater need. If we would only take time to look beyond ourselves, we will be surprised at what we find!! Thirdly, over time, it is good to build a network of like-minded people that you know you can trust and those who will stand by you in such times. We all have our “off” seasons, and its good to have those who will understand what we are going through – people that we can relate to. The option of loneliness will always be around the corner. It confronts every man, woman and child. The secret is not just understanding it but knowing what to do when it strikes. Remember the fact, focus and your friends and know that it is conquerable. Today as a grown up, I still face the storms. This time it’s not the physical kind like the rain beating down on my house but the storms of life. Today my parents may not be around to help and comfort me. There may not be a loved one or friend to stand by me. At times it may be hard for others to understand what I am going through but the Lord is with me. Even in the darkest hour I have felt His presence, His comfort and been able to rest in the fact that He will never leave me nor forsake me. I will never be alone for He has said “And be sure of this: I am with you always!” (Mt.28:20 NLT).