Ever feel like you’re surrounded by people… and at once…
All alone?
Like your days are crammed with communication -texts, calls, emails, DMs – and yet, no one’s really listening?
Yeah.
Same.
The world’s increasingly connected; but somehow, we’re drifting further and further apart. And you know what?
It’s dangerous.
Predatory animals work together to isolate their prey from the protection of the flock/fold/herd/horde for good reason.
So they can kill their prey.
Loneliness, isolation, despair… they’re ravenous. And they’ll rip us to shreds if we give them half a chance.
(Don’t doubt it: those demons are real.)
The pandemic has been distressing for lots of reasons. But I’m more and more troubled by one.
Distancing.
You know… that thing we’ve been doing on-and-off for almost two years? Staying safe by staying apart? The problem is that the staying apart was… and is… killing people too.
When we’re divided/separated/solo, the predators start circling, snarling, showing their teeth. Fear, shame, despair. When we’re alone, who’s going to guard and guide us to safety? Who’s there to steady us, uplift us, urge us onward?
We need community…
(Because we really are better together.)
But above all, we need Christ.
As the deer pants for water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. Where can I find him to come and stand before him? Day and night I weep for his help, and all the while my enemies taunt me. “Where is this God of yours?” they scoff.
Take courage, my soul! Do you remember those times (but how could you ever forget them!) when you led a great procession to the Temple on festival days, singing with joy, praising the Lord? Why then be downcast? Why be discouraged and sad? Hope in God! I shall yet praise him again. Yes, I shall praise him for his help.
Yet I am standing here depressed and gloomy, but I will meditate upon your kindness to this lovely land… All your waves and billows have gone over me, and floods of sorrow pour upon me…
Yet day by day the Lord also pours out his steadfast love upon me, and through the night I sing his songs and pray to God who gives me life.
“O God my Rock,” I cry, “why have you forsaken me? Why must I suffer these attacks from my enemies?” Their taunts pierce me like a fatal wound; again and again they scoff, “Where is that God of yours?” But, O my soul, don’t be discouraged Don’t be upset. Expect God to act! For I know that I shall again have plenty of reason to praise him for all that he will do. He is my help! He is my God! ~ Psalm 42 (TLB)
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Those words were written by a man after God’s own heart… and echoed by God’s only Son when he hung – holy and wholly innocent – on that old rugged cross.
He was battered, bleeding, barely breathing. But you know what I think killed him?
The unrelenting agony of alone-ness.
I think that’s what broke his heart and stole his last breath.
Isolation bullies us into believing that we’ve been cruelly, irreversibly abandoned. That we have to walk the proverbial plank unaccompanied, unprotected, bound and bare.
It convinces us that no one has the faintest clue what we’re going through… or the peril that lies ahead.
No one.
Not a single soul.
But it isn’t true.
Because…
Jesus knows.
He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. ~ Luke 22:41-44 (NLT)
Jesus was no stranger to loneliness…
Dread…
Despair.
In the last hours before his execution, these were his tormentors.
He begged relief from the only One who could spare him. But there was no daring rescue. No stay.
So He bore the unspeakable anguish through tears… and beads of sweat… and drops of blood.
He faced desertion and desolation, knowing full well what heinous injustice and vicious brutality and unbridled evil would be unleashed against him.
He was not spared the full force of the real Avenger’s wrath. He wasn’t delivered from one millisecond of the merciless mockery or wrongful conviction or bloody torture. Nor the spitting, scourging, suffocating. Nor the spikes.
Jesus drank the cup of suffering… and poured out his lifeblood.
Alone.
His followers distanced themselves.
One by one, they freaked… and fled. His dearest friends deserted him. One denied even knowing him. (Not once or twice. Three times.)
Another turned traitor.
Even his own Father abandoned him.
And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” … And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:33-34, 37-39)
Jesus – Creator, Conqueror, King – despaired… and died. Unaccompanied and unprotected, bound and bare.
Utterly, indecently, disgracefully – and yes, dreadfully – alone.
Why? So we never have to be.
He bore it all because…
Love.
Oh how he loves us.
Crazy as it sounds, his love was deeper and stronger than his sweating-blood dread. Braver than the savagery inflicted on him. More ferocious than all the foes and forces amassed against him. His love fueled him through forsakenness.
Jesus’ staggering love compelled him – and held him – to the cross.
He suffered alone, so we could come near.
Near to the holy.
Near to the heavenly.
Near to hope.
He drank the cup of crucifixion, so we could could come close – commune – with him.
You’re not alone, friend.
Jesus is near.
(Yes, even when you can’t feel him… at all. Even when everything – all your angst/doubts/disbelief – tell you otherwise.)
Don’t panic. I’m with you. There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you. I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you. ~ Isaiah 41:10 (MSG)
The Lord himself will go ahead of you. He will be with you. He will never leave you. He’ll never desert you. So don’t be afraid. Don’t lose hope. ~ Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIRV)
“… You can be sure that I will be with you always. I will continue with you until the end of time.” ~ Matthew 28:20 (ERV)
You’re not alone, friend.
(Not even now.)
Wendy
P.S. “God’s presence is not the same as the feeling of God’s presence and He may be doing most for us when we think He’s doing least.” ~ C.S. Lewis
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If you or someone you know is in crisis or having suicidal thoughts, please call 911, go the nearest ER or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) immediately.
Wendy with a Why 