GOD AND OUR LONELINESS

JEREMIAH 15:1

A. "I SAT ALONE BECAUSE OF THY HAND"
  1. The prophet Jeremiah confesses the sense of loneliness:
    1. He feels separated fro his fellows although he lived in a city crowded with people
    2. Those around him do not share in his deepest feelings
  2. It is a loneliness of the soul:
    1. There is a sense of impenetrable solitude
    2. The hand of God was in it, and there was a purpose in this feeling of isolation B. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF EXPERIENCES OF MAN'S LONELINESS
  3. The loneliness of personal responsibility:
    1. We are personally responsible to God for the life we live - good or bad
    2. "So then everyone of us shall give an account of himself to God" - Rom. 14:12
    3. "That everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" - 2 Cor. 5:10
    4. None of us shall ever be able to transfare that personal responsibility - Examples: Adam and Eve attempted to blame others for their misdeeds - Gen. 3:12-13; Saul sought to hide behind the people when he was brought to account for his misdeed - I Sam. 15:21
  4. The loneliness of consecration:
    1. The man that is set apart by consecration is a separated person - his consecration sets him apart from others
    2. The touch of God sets us alone; Examples the call of Abram set him apart from his father's house, his kin, and from his home country - Gen. 12:1-5; that was true of Jacob - Gen. 28:7-22
  5. The loneliness of sorrow:
    1. Most of us know that sooner or later sorrow comes to us with its loneliness; no other being is able to feel the loneliness of that sorrow
    2. O yes, I know that friends around us attempt to share our grief, but no one knows the pain of loneliness that comes when a loved one is taken out of our life
  6. Then there is the loneliness of death: Examples: Moses had been surrounded by the leaders of the people, but when he faced his last earthly walk to die in an unknown grave - he was alone - Deut. 34:1-5 C. BUT, LEST WE DESPAIR, LEST WE ARE OVERCOME WITH THE FEAR OF LONELINESS
  7. God is fully cognizant of the pain of our loneliness:
    1. He has given us the word of his promise that He will be with us no matter what may happen to us
    2. "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" - Matt. 28:20
    3. "They shall call His name Emmanuel, which being is God with us" - Matt. 1:23
  8. God with us makes the great and eternal difference in our loneliness:
    1. Said the Psalmist, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon the earth that I desire beside thee" - Ps. 73:25
    2. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me" - Ps. 23:4
  9. The presence of God changes our loneliness completely:
    1. A very impressive family experience in our home when my wife took suddenly ill and the children were left alone
    2. God's presence in our life gives us His assurance of eternal security
    3. His presence with us provides the needed grace to bear the loneliness of sorrow and pain
    4. His presence with us lifts up the path that is before us - Ps. 119:105
    5. Friends of mine, tell me what shall we do with our loneliness without God?
    6. To me the thought of being separated from God is terrifying
    7. Think of what happens to the people when God departs from them? Saul's experience; Judas's experience


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