“The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.”
Psalm 121:5 was the scripture that I recently read in my devotional book. It was an article by David Jeremiah about loneliness. Which brought me to the question I posed for this article: “Have You Ever Been Lonely?” I think that I already know the answer to this question. I truly doubt that any human being has escaped the feeling of loneliness. It is in the DNA of human beings to want to be around other people. I think that even those people that we call “loners” experience loneliness at some time or other. I remember a very lonely time in my life. It was my first Christmas in the Navy in 1956. I was in Hospital Corps School at the Naval Hospital in San Diego, California. They gave us a choice of liberty on Christmas day or New Year’s Day. I chose Christmas. This was a bad choice. My first Christmas away from home was spent on the streets of San Diego, California, where I knew no one and no one knew me. Since that Christmas, I define loneliness based on what I felt that day. Feeling alone is one of the most desolate feelings that we can have. Did you know that God does not want us to feel alone? Look at the text for this article: “The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.” This means that God is ever near to us. In fact, Jesus promised to never leave or forsake us. But God also created us with a need for human companionship and fellowship. This is why Christian fellowship is so important. Christians, we need each other, and not a one of us should feel lonely as long as there is another Christian in this world. This leads me to the main thought that I want you to take from this article. If you are lonely, reach out to a fellow Christian. This is the essence of Christian fellowship. This is one of the reasons that we have church. It’s not the only reason, but it is one important reason. If we are afraid to reach out to each other in loneliness, we have somehow misinterpreted the meaning of Christian fellowship. Which leads me to remind you that if you are lonely, it might be because you have isolated yourself. In this case, get up off of it and call a Christian friend. I have an even better suggestion: Why don’t you find some lonely person in your community and visit them? Now there is a novel idea. It might be a fellow Christian, or it might be a non-Christian. In the first case, your fellow Christian will appreciate your concern. In the second case, you might be a witness to that person, and that person will be eternally grateful to you. You get the point don’t you? You don’t have to be lonely if you will just reach out for fellowship with and witness to other people. I want to make another suggestion: If you feel lonely today, before you reach out to other people, renew your fellowship with God. As the song tells us, “My Lord is near me all the time….” Spend some time alone with God; experience His reality and His love for awhile. Pray and seek a real, dynamic sense of His presence. The reality is that we are never really alone if we are trusting in Jesus. That’s why I feel sorry for atheists and all other unbelievers. When they are lonely, they are really lonely. But if you have a relationship with God, He is near you all of the time. An old hymn entitled “Never Alone” comes to my mind; “No, never alone, no, never alone, He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.” Pay attention to Jesus when He tells you, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” If we really believe this promise, when we feel lonely we will reach out for fellowship with Jesus, and He will lead us to fellowship with others. You will feel alone at times, but you do not have to live in loneliness. Believe it! Bro. Joe
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