Are You Lonesome Tonight?
As we move into short days and long nights, it becomes easier to feel discouraged. If we are increasingly secluded (by weather and, this year, by governmental edict), we can experience genuine loneliness. I enjoy being alone, but I have a choice in the matter; others do not. Solitude occurs when we want to be alone; loneliness happens when friends and family are taken from us. Solitude soothes, whereas loneliness looms. Because God knows all about us, His Word speaks to us about the painful subject of loneliness. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Like her husband Zechariah, Elizabeth knew the lonely ache of childlessness. Unfortunately (and incorrectly), many of the people in that culture believed that a childless couple was being punished by God. Predictably, most of the blame was placed on the wife; Elizabeth’s words in Luke 1:24-25 convey how she had been treated for many years. Three pithy points powerfully present themselves. First, God cares about all people, whether famous or unknown. (As an aside, the Bible is the only book of the ancient world that regularly speaks of regular folks; other literature focused almost exclusively on rich and powerful people until the early 1800’s. God’s Book is different because God is different.) Second, she (like her husband) was quick to praise God (verses 39-47 – someone needs to write a Christmas song called “Elizabeth’s Carol”!). Third, she was so spiritually-minded that she knew that this son, the forerunner of the Messiah, was to be named John and not, as everyone expected, Zechariah (verses 57-63). Her close relationship with God had sustained her through her lonely years and now granted her great spiritual insight. God had never abandoned Elizabeth, and, because He does not change, He will never leave even one of us alone.