"When I am Alone"

When I am Alone

“Turn to me and have mercy, for I am alone and in deep distress.” Psalm 25:16

Young or old, man or woman, rich or poor; one of the worse feelings you can have is to be lonely.  It isn’t only the fact of a person being physically alone, it can be that you feel deserted or have no friends.  Loneliness is the epitome of hopelessness.  Immediately this throws word pictures in your mind; an elderly person sitting in their chair with no friends or family, or a man sitting in a prison cell; a child left alone by a parent.  I’m sure you get the picture. 

I, myself have felt that loneliness, although there were people around me. I recall a time when I was in my twenties, I suffered nervous breakdown and was put in a rest home.  I felt everyone deserted me and because of the treatment I received there, I experienced great loneliness and hopelessness.  I wanted to give up, but something inside of me wouldn’t let me.  I know now that God was protecting me.  I can say today, as it says in James 1:2 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials”.  Because of that experience I have been able to minister to countless people who felt lonely and hopeless.

I think of many teens who experience these feelings and they think that no one understands them.  It may come from a poor relationship with parents, or it may come from feeling insecure with their peers.  Or it may come from feeling melancholy about life because of physical problems like hormones.  What really matters is the feelings and what can be done about it.

I often think of my mother when she was elderly.  My father passed away years before and when she was active she was happy.  Then as the years went by she became more and more homebound.  My siblings and I lived in another city and couldn’t always be there. I worked full time and was very active in our church and had four children and grandchildren.  However, all of us were there a lot, even the grandchildren.  We took her on trips and spent all the holidays with her, but she always told me that Sunday was the loneliest time for her.  She was always active in church, but eventually could no longer attend and most of her close friends had passed away.  I know she had it better than so many elderly, but she still experienced loneliness. 

How many are in nursing homes and do not have any visitors.  Some have children that just don’t visit them.  It is so sad that many who are put in homes just give up; they are lonely and many of them feel hopelessness.  Those that feel that way generally don’t have a relationship with Jesus. They may not know that Jesus says, “I will never leave you or forsake you”.  [Hebrew 13:5]   They may not know that God says in Isaiah 54:5, “For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is His name”.

I like what the Bible tells us in I Timothy 5:5, “A woman who is truly alone in this world, has placed her hope in God, asking God for his help.”  She has hope and knows her future with Jesus and has peace within her. 

I am reminded of earlier times when men and women were brought to this country as slaves.  Taken away from their homelands and family, never to see them again.  I can’t imagine the hopelessness and loneliness they endured. They had no one to stand up for them or rescue them from terrible standards of living.  There was no one to protect them from the terrible beatings and torture they endured.  Yet, they endured because they learned about a loving God who would be with them and give them hope. Some of my favorite songs are Negro spirituals which were filled with the hope of God’s glory.

You are never really alone when you know Jesus.  You are never without hope when you know Jesus.  When I go through troubling times or can’t sleep, I sing this song.  It gives me immediate comfort and peace and helps connect me to the Lord, himself.

Give me Jesus

By Jeremy Camp

Verses

When I come to rise, O when I come to rise

And when I come to rise, give me Jesus.

When I am alone, and when I am alone,

And when I am alone, give me Jesus.

When I come to die, and when I come to die

And when I come to die, give me Jesus.

Chorus:

Give me Jesus, Give me Jesus

You can have all this world

But give me Jesus.