Do you ever feel like you are all alone? That not one person is with you? Or understands you? Or even cares? Maybe you feel alone because you live by yourself, or alone even when you’re surrounded by people, or alone in your circumstances. Feeling alone is feeling alone. No matter the environment. And feeling alone is difficult, and draining, and discouraging. The truth I’ve realized, however, is that this feeling is just that. A feeling.
No matter how we feel, you and I are not alone.
I’m one who can get wrapped up in my feelings. Some days I feel happy. Some days, not so much. If I’m not careful, my feelings can get out of hand. So some days, I’m forced to reel them in. Kinda like reeling in a 50 pound fish on my line. (Is that even a thing? I don’t fish, so I have no idea.) It’s a struggle. But in all seriousness, I know my feelings can lead me astray. Been there, done that. Including the feeling of aloneness.
I just finished writing the sermon I’m giving at church this Sunday. This week’s text is the story of Hagar and Ishmael. How Abraham casts them away, and how God provides for them in the desert. (You can check it out live at 9:20 AM (cst) on 6/21 at facebook.com/salem.cr/.) In studying this text, I can’t help but be reminded again that we, as God’s children, are not alone. Ever.
God is always with us.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We read that or hear that often. So much so, maybe we’ve become desensitized to this amazing truth. Maybe some of us have stopped believing it because God seems to be with others, but not with us. Or maybe our circumstances are just so hard we question if God is with me, why is my life so hard? I get it. I don’t always “feel” God with me, but through my studies and past personal experiences, I just know He is.
Just as He was with Hagar and Ishmael. I won’t go into the full story or give you the full sermon here, but God heard and saw the circumstances these two found themselves in as they wandered in the desert and ran out of provisions. It appears as if they were left out there to die from exposure and thirst. They must have felt abandoned, cast out, and unworthy. Who wouldn’t? And, how could a woman and a 16-year old boy fend for themselves in the wilderness anyway?
We might feel the same. Wandering in our own desert of sorts. Some of us feel abandoned, lonely, cast aside. How are we supposed to fend for ourselves in this scary and unsettled world?
Just as God saw and heard Hagar and Ishmael, He sees and hears us, too.
It’s true! God, the Creator of you and me and this entire world, not only sees and hears us, but He cares. What concerns us concerns Him. He cares so much, He will meet us in our need. In His timing and in His ways. You and I are not alone in our circumstances, friend. Never.
God is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry.
Deuteronomy 31:8 MSG
Doesn’t this just encourage your soul? Sometimes it helps to know we’re not alone. God is striding ahead of you. He’s right here with you. There’s nothing you or I need to fear or worry about.
You and I are not alone.
Someone in your life and mine could use this reminder of truth. Someone needs to remember God sees him/her, hears him/her, is with him/her today. Let’s remind ourselves and tell someone else. Then live in this truth today, tomorrow, in the days to come.
I invite you to hear the rest of the story on Sunday. God be with you today, friend, because He already is!
Much love,
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