Topic: Loneliness
Focus: Turning to the Lord in loneliness and pain
Psalm 25:16-17 (NCV) Turn to me and have mercy on me, because I am lonely and hurting. My troubles have grown larger; free me from my problems.
Any trial seems to make loneliness and pain seem worse–just like trials seem bigger when you’re already lonely and in pain.
When you’re in that condition, it seems like the whole world is out to get you…especially when there’s no sign that there will be a change any time soon.
The only thing good about pain is that it brings us to our knees—and the only thing good about being lonely, is the way it causes people to draw closer to God.
Now, you can listen and/or read!
When everything else fails—the Lord is there for you. When all of your other options have been removed and your back is against the wall, He is there. He is faithful. Psalm 147:3 says, ‘He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.’
In Isaiah 45:22 (KJV), the Lord answers the cry of the lonely and lost. He says, ‘Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.’
Turning to the Lord is the key—not turning to entertainment, or to people, or to any other kind of substitute.
When we turn to Him, some of the promises of the Lord in Isaiah 61 tell how He will comfort all that mourn and give those who grieve a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. He says the brokenhearted will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.
The Lord will replace your shame with a double portion of goodness and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. You will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.
The Lord loves justice and hates robbery and wrongdoing. In His faithfulness, He will reward His people and make an everlasting covenant with them.
When we are in need of comfort, it’s strange the way we turn everywhere else to try to find it. We try to fill the void that only God can fill—in so many destructive ways. When we don’t find the help we need—we sometimes resent Him, as though He hasn’t been willing to help us. When actually, we have been trying to fill our need of Him with other things. The only answer to the loneliness and pain we suffer is the Lord, Himself. All other substitutes are temporary. Nothing but the love and fulfillment He can give will be able to bring us lasting help.
The Lord alone is the answer to the cry of your heart. He is the all becoming One—able to ‘be’ whatever you lack. That’s why He is known as ‘I AM’—because ‘HE IS’ everything. Find all of your hope in Him.
The quantity of His mercy is greater than the quantity of your failure. The extent of His grace is greater than the degree of your sin.
In Romans 8:31 the Apostle Paul tells us, ‘What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?’ In verses 37-39 he goes on to say, ‘Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’
Wherever you hurt today—the Lord is able to bandage your wound and heal it. He doesn’t despise your loneliness and the broken state of your heart. His true desire is for you to turn to Him with your whole being and find all of your satisfaction in Him. He is the friend you long for—the One who is able to carry all of your pain.
Declaration: I will find new strength by turning to the Lord in a fuller and deeper way than I have in the past. I believe He is able to heal my pain and take away my loneliness by filling me completely. I will find all my satisfaction in Him.
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All NEW STRENGTH posts are Copyright by Christina Cook Lee 2012. Please request permission to re-post or re-blog.
