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.)
If you are a homebody like me, you can really appreciate the loneliness of the wisemen. We read about them in Matthew 2:1-12. Almost every detail that we sing or picture about them is likely wrong: they were scholars not kings; they probably came from Persia not the far Orient; they likely rode horses not camels; and there is no indication that there were exactly three of them, only three different gifts. What we do know is that in response to the prophecy of Numbers 24:17, these magi came looking for the Messiah. In so doing, they left their homes to travel hundreds of miles. They were wealthy (consider their gifts) and thus departed from lives of ease and enjoyment. When they returned to their homeland, they were changed men who would not have fit back into that pagan culture. Thus, they experienced loneliness in departing and in returning. Yet, “when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy” (verse 10). They proved that they truly were men of wisdom. What they gained was far more than what they had lost.