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.)
My favorite soccer team is Liverpool, for three primary reasons. First, a large Irish population lives there, and my people emigrated from Ireland in 1719. Second, it is not a lovely place, and the success of its soccer team is about the only bright spot in the city. Third, the entire crowd sings “You’ll Never Walk Alone” just before the start of each home game. Perhaps this tradition is no more than that – a tradition. However, it does capture an elemental truth about human existence: we need other people in our lives. An old saying (and part of an old song) states, “flesh and blood needs flesh and blood.” Psalm 68:5-6a puts the same thought this way: “A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation. God setteth the solitary in families: He bringeth out those which are bound with chains.” The word “families” literally means “home”; either way, the idea is the same – when we are lonely, we need other people. As God’s people, we should deeply desire to be part of God’s fulfillment of this promise. The commendatory command of Romans 12:15 should be our goal: “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep” Take interest in others (we will find that they are interesting!), and come alongside with a visit (when the governor lifts her fiat), a call, or a note. If there is no other way, use some form of social media. Let us with joyful purpose carry out James 1:27: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”