LONELINESS AND ISOLATION

Loneliness And Isolation: Two Maladies Of Our Time.

We all at one time or the other have experienced Loneliness and Isolation in our lives.

Perhaps there are some who have brought them upon themselves by putting their success in life and the acquisition of things above their relationship with God. 

Part of the blame may also have to do with the garage door opener: With it we can zip into our “fortress” without facing the neighbors!

We could also point the finger at T.V. And air conditioning: Both serve to isolate us in that box we call “home.”

Henry Ford may also share some of the blame: With the automobile came urbanization and the loss of community. Who today, for example, stands around at the post office jawing over the height of the summer corn or how the local baseball team is faring?

Jesus Christ, having gone to the cross alone, knows all about loneliness and isolation.

And if you are His serious follower, you also are no stranger to loneliness and isolation as you walk the near-vacant, thinning path of the pilgrim.

As Christ’s pilgrim, you can identify with the cry of the Psalmist,

I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.  (Psalms 102:7)

How then are we to deal with these twin maladies of loneliness and isolation? Well, we can either view them as conditions that are debilitating and paralyzing, or we can choose to allow God to use them as influences that drive us toward intimacy with the Lord Jesus. Often, it is in our anguished loneliness and isolation that we find true spiritual depth in God.

Can we cry out with William T. Sleeper:

“Out of my bondage, sorrow and night, Jesus, I come… Into Thy freedom, gladness and light, Jesus I come… Out of my sickness into Thy health, out of my want and into Thy wealth. Out of my sin and into Thyself, Jesus I come to Thee… “

Jesus reassures us amidst our loneliness and isolation:

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.  (Heb 13:5)

Pastor Woody