Do you know what is amazing to me? We live in such a fast-paced advanced
society, highly technical and overflowing with information about simply
everything. There are facts and faces available at our fingertips through
the Internet any time of the day or night. Yet with all of this progress
we seemingly have made as Americans, with our entire running around to
get things done, with all of our accomplishments tucked under our hats,
still loneliness is as much a reality today as it was back when this country
was founded and when there was hardly anything present at all…
One of the world's most renowned men, Albert Einstein said, "It is strange
to be known so universally and yet be so lonely." Loneliness is a part
of life - no matter what day and age you live in and no matter who you
are. We will never truly be able to escape its existence. How then should
we react to times of loneliness? What does loneliness feel like to you?
Here is one description I found in Psalms 102:6-7 that I thought was an
interesting word picture…
"I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.
I watch, and am as a sparrow upon the house top."
Three different birds were mentioned in these two verses used to describe
how loneliness feels inside. Pelicans are solemn looking birds and silent
creatures, emitting no sound except for an occasional grunt. Owls are
often alone and unwelcome by other birds, living disguised among the branches
of the trees, sitting back and taking everything in with their keen eyesight
and hearing, asking only of life, "who?" And the sparrow is a familiar
bird to us all, which sings a sad, whistling song... What a perfect picture
of loneliness these three birds really are!
So often in the Word of God, Jesus is found speaking to others in parables,
or word pictures like the one above. It helps to illustrate a truth He
is trying to get across to us. There are other ways that we can learn
from the Lord as well. It may seem hard to understand, and even unfair
at times, but the truth is that loneliness is a classroom that provides
an opportunity for the Lord to teach us many things about Himself as Mark
4:34 shows us:
"But without a parable spake he not unto them: and WHEN THEY WERE ALONE,
he expounded all things to his disciples."
I so struggled with Math in school! During class, as the teacher would
teach a new math concept and then ask if there were any questions, I would
look around to see if others raised their hands. None did, and so therefore,
neither did I. I felt isolated from the rest of the class who appeared
to have all the answers because I still had countless questions! Unfortunately,
I did not have the courage to ask these questions in front of others....
Consequently, my lack of understanding showed up a bit later through my
bad grades in Math and I had to stay after school for extra help quite
often. This was a time when I was on my own with the teacher, and I felt
safer then asking what I thought were dumb questions. Guess what, ladies?
I received answers to ALL my math questions and understanding I could
not receive any other way! To my relief, my teacher did not make me feel
stupid for asking them...
You see, during these occasions alone, my Math teacher, with love and
patience, was able to expound more specifically to me the concepts I did
not grasp quickly. He made all things plain. I marveled at this most of
all because I struggled with feelings of guilt for being the reason that
this man had to stay after school due to my lack of understanding. I placed
extra pressure upon myself to hurry up and "get it" and hindered myself
further.
I will never forget him, for when my teacher noticed that my struggle
with Math had reduced me to tears, he slipped silently out of the room,
went to the teacher's lounge, and returned with a candy bar for me! Whether
he realized it or not, by that one small act of compassion, my teacher
removed the pain of my isolation and made me glad. In the end, I was not
sorry one bit for the time I had alone with him! You see, I went home
that day with more than just an understanding of Math; I went home with
a glimpse of my teacher's heart and a feeling of significance...
So it is in our Christian lives! During our times of loneliness, we actually
have the opportunity to learn more from the Lord than at any other time.
Loneliness is a great classroom, for it is filled with grace, providing
you a safe and loving atmosphere to ask anything of the Lord! Ladies,
if you're willing to enter into that classroom with Him, you'll find that
you will come away from this time of loneliness with greater understanding
and a glimpse of God's heart! He will make all things plain. It is one
thing to go through a crisis grandly, and another thing to go through
every day glorifying God when nobody is paying any attention to you. Don't
ever dread your lonely times - cherish them! Use them to draw closer to
your Teacher! He has not forsaken you, but in your struggles desires to
expound all things unto you, encourage you, and build you up with the
sweetness of His presence…
Luke 12: 6&7:
Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten
before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear
not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Said a robin to a sparrow, "I should really like to know,
Why these anxious human beings rush around and worry so?"
Said a sparrow to the robin, "Friend, I think that it must be,
That they have no heavenly Father such as cares for you and me!"
When you are alone or just feeling lonely, you are able to focus in on
the many unique ways that your heavenly Father has been specifically caring
for you. You may think the Lord has not noticed or has even turned His
back upon you when you have fallen to the ground in your attempt to fly...
Yet the Bible assures the Lord will never change the way He feels about
us, for you and I are of much value to Him!
Psalm 88:18
Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into
darkness.
Essentially, loneliness is the knowledge that one's fellow human beings
are incapable of understanding one's condition and therefore are incapable
of bringing the help most needed. Though it may seem that you are isolated
from friends and family, even having outlived your acquaintances so that
none is left to console you, God, who knows your heart even more than
you yourself, has put them far from you for a very good reason! (Perhaps
in times past they have been the ones you have been leaning upon as crutches?)
Don't settle on the triumphs of death, dear lady; your life is not encompassed
by God's wrath. No, in His great care and love for us, God removes familiar
faces that we might recognize HIM as the one true Comforter! You see how
loneliness then, is only for our good… "Didst Thou give me this inescapable
loneliness so that it would be easier for me to give Thee all?"
John 16:7
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away:
for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart,
I will send him unto you.
Who would have ever thought that it would be a good thing for Jesus to
go away, yet He said that if He did not, the Comforter would not come
unto us unless He did! Thus the necessity of departure at times in our
lives from others, the necessity of loneliness... Every departure leaves
more room for the Holy Spirit! Ladies, Christ wants us to understand loneliness
is a reason for triumph, not tragedy. It is to spur us on to greater things...
Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, and Lincoln were not
afraid of being lonely because they knew that was when the creative mood
in them would work. Many of this world's greatest inventions came about
in men who spent time alone. As a child of God, we are to remember that
we are never really alone, for the Spirit is always with us. Pray that
your loneliness would spur you into finding something to live for and
great enough to die for... Let us produce something marvelous to show
for our solitude!
1 Samuel 12:22
For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because
it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people.
You and I have been given the sweet Holy Spirit to comfort us, teach us
truth, and guide us toward greater things. Have you graciously accepted
His guidance and company? Or have you missed it by looking for it elsewhere?
Why wander this earth as if in a solitary way when the Lord is always
beside you?? Learn to enjoy the inward quietness that comes from Him...
Isaiah 30:15
For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and
rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength:
and ye would not.
In closing, to every one of us from time to time there comes a sense of
utter loneliness. When we feel that loneliness, it is the voice of Jesus
saying, "Come to me." And every time others do not understand us, it is
a call for us to come to Him yet again. You see ladies, the Lord desires
our love, and in every one of our hearts He desires to be first. He therefore
keeps the secret key Himself, to open all the chambers of our hearts and
to bless with perfect sympathy and holy peace, each solitary soul that
comes to Him. Are you seeking the Lord today in your loneliness? In every
man there is a sense of isolation, an inner chamber of peculiar life into
which God only can enter. The soul hardly ever realizes it, but whether
he is a believer or not, his loneliness is really a homesickness for God!
Christ alone can satisfy the soul, and those who walk with Him from day
to day can never have a solitary way! It's the only real way to escape
loneliness...
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2000 Pamela A. Iannello
