Daily Devotions for Difficult Days [67] Home Alone (1)

Alone Again, Naturally

Oh the blissful ignorance of youth! To think that as a young teen, I blithely used to sing Gilbert O'Sullivan's Alone Again, without really understanding the meaning of the words! 

It's the hauntingly beautiful bitter-sweet song about a guy who has suffered the death of his dad, the heartbreak of his mother and then the pain of being jilted at the altar.

So sad.

"Alone again, naturally" is a line that repeats istelf, and I guess is a line some folks in our lockdown era can relate to acutely.

If as a follower of Jesus Christ we find ourselves alone today, we should pause to remember those believers in the Bible who suffered alone-ness and we should note how the Lord saw them through it.

Joseph was (not) Alone

Joseph was such a one. He was alone twice over. Alone among his brothers who were jealous of him and then alone in a foreign land due to the their hate-fueled actions. I'm not sure which loneliess is worse: to be lonely among your own family or to be lonely in a foreign land.

How did he make it through? Or, rather, how did God help him through it?

What do we read?

"The Lord was with Joseph...." (Gen 39:2)

We find no hint that Joseph tried to escape the clutches of his new owners. Perhaps he couldn't. Perhaps he could but decided to submit himself to God's providence.

In any case he made it through because the Lord was with him, so in fact he was never alone.

His sexual fidelity led to a third aloneness, imprisonment. (He refused to sleep with the seductress wife of Potiphar). How did he make it through this new solitude? A stanger in a strange place?

"The Lord was with him..." (Gen 39:21,23)

There's a pattern here: Joseph makes it through loneliness because the Lord was with him.

And, by the way, Joseph makes it through bitterness exactly the same way. He's been mistreated by his brothers, enslaved in a foreign land, unjustly treated by a boss, forgotten by someone he did good to (the chief cupbearer).

How will he handle this domino of injuries? What, in particular, will he say to his brothers who knocked over the first block?

"God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God." (Gen 45:7-8)

God was in it, God did it!

"But Joseph, them brothers did it!"

"No, they didn't do it, God did it!"

God is always in Joseph's answer.

Jesus was Alone

Whenever we feel alone, let us remember God's promise "I will never leave you or forsake you," and remember the experience of Joseph, who could confirm in his perosnal experience the truth of that wonderful promise.

There has only been one Man who was ever truly Alone.

On the cross, abandoned by his disciples, Jesus was forsaken by his Father, because in the moment of atonement he who knew no sin was made sin for us. And so his holy Father had to turn away.

He experienced aloneness so that we will never experience it, either in eternity, or in this world.

A SONG FOR THE DAY
I've chosen this well known hymn, because it reminds us that we always have a friend in Jesus, even when we are alone. It was written by Joseph Scriven, whose life was filled with many trials (read about them HERE) and so he needed the comfort of his very own hymn.

What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer!

Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge--
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Do your friends despise, forsake you?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he'll take and shield you;
you will find a solace there.

J M Scriven

You can sing along HERE.

A PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Our loving heavenly Father,

We thank you for the ordinary extraordinary blessings of life. We thank you for food, for drink, for a roof over our heads and for enough money to live.

We pray for those who are in want, and pray that we might extend open hands to the poor, whatever their lack might be.

We thank you that you never leave us or forsake us, and that we are never alone.

We thank you for the Spirit of the Lord Jesus who lives within our hearts.

We pray for those who live alone that they would know and experience your presence with them today.

We pray this in Jesus' Worthy Name,

Amen

Photo by Chetan Menaria on Unsplash