Alone

God, my God!

Why would you abandon me now?

Why do you remain distant,

    refusing to answer my tearful cries in the day

    and my desperate cries for your help in the night?

    I can’t stop sobbing.

    Where are you, my God?

(Psalm 22:1-2 TPT)

Alone.

There are many ways to be alone.  In a crowd. On a plane. In peace and quiet. Awaiting a phone call.  In a hospital bed. In an empty house.  In a bubble bath. On the top of a mountain.  Depending on your circumstances, being alone can be bliss or excruciating.

Having an hour alone when you have very small children is a sweet gift. It’s as if Jesus envelops you in a hug and his love and encouragement so you can keep going. 

Lying in a hospital room, alone in the middle of the night, awaiting test results may be dreadful. But you are never truly alone if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus was alone in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He asked his friends to pray with him and they fell asleep. But at least the Father and Holy Spirit were still with him. 

But on the cross he was even more alone – forsaken completely by the Father and the Spirit.  Alone in a way absolutely none of us understands.  After being One with the Father and Spirit from before time began, after creating, dreaming, planning the redemption of humanity, and working to guard and guide the chosen people, in those hours on that cross Jesus was totally, completely, utterly alone. 

Hear that again:

Jesus was

Totally

Completely 

Utterly 

Alone.

He was alone so we don’t have to be.

He endured the utter abandonment of the rest of the godhead so that we could be enfolded in the Beloved.

He took our sin upon himself so we could be forgiven and come into relationship with the Holy God.

He became the proverbial bridge between humanity and God so that we would never have to be alone again.  Not in a crowd or on a plane or in a hospital bed or in an empty house.  Emmanuel – God with Us – is with us.  Always.  To the end of the age.  We are never, never, never alone.  

Nothing can separate us from this Love.

God will never fail us or abandon us. Ever.  

Emmanuel,

Thank you for enduring the utter abandonment on the cross so that we could come into relationship with you.  Thank you for enfolding us into the holiness of the Beloved and for promising that we who know your name and put our trust in you will never be forsaken or abandoned.  Thank you that you are our God who strengthens and helps us, the One who holds us up with your victorious hand. When we are facing circumstances that make us feel totally alone, remind us that you personally go ahead of us and will never leave or forsake us – never, ever, ever fail or abandon us.  In Jesus’s name we pray, Amen. 

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46 NKJV)

“The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
And those who know Your name will put their trust in You;
For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.” (Psalm 9:9-10 NKJV)