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.)
Psalm 107:4-5 speaks of the reality of loneliness: “They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.” These lonely folk “in a solitary way” were God’s people, the nation of Israel. Although many of them struggled mightily in their faith, they certainly believed in God. However, their faith did not exempt them from the challenges of life, including loneliness. The account of Elijah in I Kings 19 is a cogent example. The prophet thought that he was all alone in his faith. God told him that “seven thousand” faithful ones remained “in Israel” (verse 18). Seven thousand is not many, but it is certainly far more than one. My freshman year in college (at an extraordinarily liberal, secular school), I found a senior living across the hall – the Reverend Mike Walker. He had been ordained by the Southern Baptist Convention at the age of fifteen and was unashamed of his faith in Jesus Christ. It was a reminder to me that God has his people everywhere, including around us. Let us take inventory of the “seven thousand” that God has placed in our lives. Think of the Christians in your church, family, neighborhood, and perhaps your place of work, and be grateful that God has not left us to walk “a solitary way.”