By Pastor Bob DeKlavon
I have used a phrase to describe what is an incredibly sad situation during this pandemic.
We are all isolated, but I feel bad for people who are ‘isolated alone.’
This applies to some who literally have ‘no one.’
It also applies to those who end up in a hospital and die with no one ‘physically there.’
There are times when we can feel alone due the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
I have spoken before of the fact that everyone wakes up each day with this pandemic underlying us.
For some—it is an inconvenience at best.
For others—it is literally a matter of life and death.
But, all of us have had to change our lives and our thinking and our attitudes based on these times.
Add to this the ‘normal’ stuff of life that can seemingly pile up to where we reach our breaking point.
This may be health issues or relational issues or financial issues or emotional or spiritual, etc.
Here is what I have found—often, it seems like when we are going through ‘stuff’—we feel isolated.
There may be that sense of wondering if God abandoned us or just went away for a while.
Then, as now, when we can’t have close connections with a church family…well…we can feel alone.
Years ago, I was doing a study on Satan and his tactics and I came across a familiar verse to many.
In 1 Peter 5:8 it says:
“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
We know that Satan can only be in one place at a time, but his legions are always working.
Part of his working has to do with isolating those who are God’s children.
A lion’s roar can cause a herd to run in which case those who are separated can easily be picked off.
So, Satan’s roar can cause fear in God’s children and make us wonder if we are alone.
But it is in 1 Peter 5:9, that I found a great sense of comfort. Let me give it to you from the Message:
You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.
I have put in bold the lines I want you to note—you are not alone!
Others are going through the same types of things {maybe NOT exactly} that you are going through.
Do not let Satan overpower you by a sense of aloneness.
Do not let the enemy make you feel like you are alone.
You aren’t—the Lord is with you and so are others.
So, do not keep your sense of suffering to yourself—share with the Lord and others.
What so often happens is that once we share—we find others going through the very same things.
It is then in that connectedness with others that we realize again that we are not alone.