Alone

What do you do when you can’t pray? When the words won’t come. When your soul is exhausted. The great missionary J. Hudson Taylor came to that point. When anxiety filled his heart, he said, “I can’t read. I can’t think. I can’t pray. But I can trust.” We can all trust and know that the Holy Spirit is praying for us at a level we cannot comprehend.

Ever feel like you are alone in the battle? The fighting and chaos surround you, and there seems to be no chance of winning. Listen to today’s passage.

Let’s be honest. Have you ever felt like running from God? I have. There have been times when I wanted to be alone, wanted to hide, and wanted some distance from God. But where is that place of seclusion? Let’s see what King David said.

Here’s a question I ask myself often—Why don’t I spend more time talking with God? I have my excuses, but they are empty rationalizations. Jesus made talking to his Father a priority.

“Loneliness can drive us to some very dark places.” That’s what a fellow believer shared in a recent email, and that’s what David shares in today’s psalm. David wrote these words while hiding in a cave from Saul as he was trying to kill him. When we feel alone, we can hide in some very dark places.

Do you ever have nights when you can’t go to sleep? You toss and turn—your mind races. Then fear shows up. For those of you going through illness, nights can be the worst time. While others sleep, nights are lonely hours that invite your mind to entertain all the “what ifs,” and those “what ifs” never bring comfort. There is no getting around it. Storms will come, and sometimes they are unleashed in our lives. Personal storms come through unmet expectations and unfulfilled dreams. Sometimes clouds of darkness from illness and grief build in our hearts: disappointment, discouragement, disillusionment, and depression rain in our souls. But amid the storm—God is our stronghold!

Did you know that the first human being God created was incomplete? Adam was created with something missing. And, according to God, his incompleteness was not good.

The sermon he preached that day to our church, meeting in a high school auditorium at that time, was not about storms but about the One who gives us confidence in the storm. We don’t have to live in fear—even when the storm comes—the Lord is our confidence. He is all we need. He is all we will ever need. 

Thankfully Jesus is very clear about who he is, who we are, what we need to do to have a relationship with him, and where we will spend eternity based on that decision.