Week 41: Alone
Weekly Chapters:
Matthew 15 - Mark 5
Passage of the Week:
Matthew 14:23
Adjective
1. Separate, apart, or isolated from others
2. To the exclusion of all others
Thesaurus:
Only
Unattended
Solo
Unaccompanied
Abandoned
Deserted
Detached
Solitary
Father God,
Be with me this week as I dive into Your word as I seek understanding and comfort that only You can provide. Give me the strength to be authentic in my thoughts and responsible for my actions.
Amen
Authentic vulnerability:
There are days when being alone sounds magical, time in solitude. As a young mother, being alone never happened, even when I took a shower.
However, there are times when others surrounded me, yet I felt utterly alone.
Surrounded, yet alone.
I saw a quote online that described it best.
"The worst loneliness is not being alone: the worst loneliness is being surrounded by people and still feeling alone.” Impactministries.com
What is your Authentic Truth?
Study:
It sounds silly. How can we be surrounded by people yet still feel alone?
Jesus worked to retreat from others so that He could find solitude to be with God His Father (Matthew 14:23). However, after that time alone, He went back to the disciples only to feel alone in another way. After all this time with Jesus, they had yet to believe and understand Him. These were His best mates, His cronies, those who should know Him best. And yet, they still doubt. Jesus came to them in the middle of a storm (verses 24-36), and they thought He was a ghost.
Jesus called them and said, hey, it's me (verse 27), and they still doubted and asked Jesus to prove Himself by allowing Peter to walk on water (verse 28).
When Jesus said to come out on the water and trust, Peter did at first, but his faith wavered and began to sink (Verse 34). Jesus reached out and saved him (Verse 31).
I can imagine Jesus' face palming from the lack of trust. Dude – it's me—God in the flesh, you've seen the miracles! Jesus was surrounded by followers in awe of Him yet still not believing.
Jesus knows that His friends will betray Him: from Judas who collects money to turn Jesus over to the Romans (Matthew 26:14-16) to Peter who denies knowing Jesus three times (Matthew 26:31-35 and 26:69-75).
Later, Jesus goes to Gethsemane to pray, and He takes Peter, James, and John to support Him and stay with Him. Jesus walks away to pray to His Father. He sees Peter, James, and John sleeping, not even staying awake in support when He comes back.
Jesus felt the direct disdain of the Jews, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. Jesus knew this and was able to combat the disdain face forward. But it was the loneliness He felt by those who supported Him yet did not know Him.
If Jesus could feel this human emotion, He can empathize with us when we feel alone.
With God, we are never alone. God tells us in Matthew 28:20; He is always with us. And when we are still, we can feel Him carrying us as we are His children, safe in His loving arms. When people let you down, as they will, turn to God, trust in God, and feel God's presence.
You are not alone with God.
Father God,
Thank You for always being with me. Thank You for caring for me, loving me, and embracing me when I cannot carry on. Father God, thank You for being my everything.
Amen.
Homework:
List times you felt alone, even when people are around. Where was God in this? Was He providing support? Whispering encouragement? Did He send someone to give you physical support?
Read Footprints, the classic poem, to understand God's support further.
If you continually feel alone, seek professional help from your church, from a therapist.
You are not alone
