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January 30 Daily Devotional

I Am Lonely

Frans Bakker

I am desolate and afflicted.—Psalm 25:16

Bible Reading

Psalm 25:16–22

Devotional

Deep inside, everyone is alone. That is not always evident in the daily routine of life. Many have never understood their loneliness. For them life is nothing more than living together with others. They don’t know what it is to be lonely because they are always with other people.

That will change when pertinent questions of life start to penetrate to the bottom of their soul. There man feels that he stands alone. There are times in life when a mother cannot help her child, when a husband cannot help his wife, and when friends cannot help each other. At the end of the day man is lonely. He is lonely when pain surges through his body. He is lonely when sorrows afflict him. He is lonely when burdens weigh on him and regret gnaws at his soul. He is lonely when sins afflict him and the struggle against it becomes so personal. He is lonely when death, with its cold grip, lays hold on him and he enters the dark gate to meet God personally on the other side of the grave.

It is in this loneliness that most suffering takes place. As long as someone can pour out his sorrow before others, as long as there are still loving eyes that pay attention to you, as long as there are still listening ears that listen to your sorrow, as long as a heart suffers along with you, as long as shoulders comfort you, as long as helping hands relieve you—then suffering is often still bearable.

But when someone has to wrestle, carry, and struggle alone, then feelings of desolation set in. Where did this loneliness come from? Why is it that we feel perpetually lonely? It is because we have brought ourselves into this loneliness. We have forsaken God and we are, therefore, forsaken. We have turned our backs on God and as a result we are standing with our backs against one another. In life we are lonely. Even if many people surround us with love, the emptiness of that loneliness cannot be filled. Those who fail to understand this will still have to experience this loneliness in their death. The psalmist understands the cause of his loneliness. That is why he directs his prayer to God with the petition: “Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.” Only God can fill the emptiness in your life. Do you realize that you are lonely? Do you know the cause of this loneliness? Only the Lord can fill this urgent need.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.

 

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