Isolation or solitude?

It takes the fire of God to cleanse our hearts of selfishness in all its subtle forms. Even loneliness may be a form of selfishness.

One can reject friendship when it is not offered on the terms one chooses. One can reject the grace of God as Naaman the leper came perilously close to doing because it was not offered with the kind of ceremony he felt befitted his station. One can magnify his loneliness out of all proportion, as though he suffered something that is not common to man, forgetting that “this is life”- not more, not less. 

One can draw about himself a thick quilt of self-pity and isolate himself in other ways, but if one turns the loneliness into solitude and the solitude into prayer, there is release. It may require a willingness to be burned if burning is necessary as it was for Isaiah, but there is forgiveness and cleansing and peace. In Isaiah’s case, this was followed by God’s call for a volunteer to work for Him. With a heart at leisure now from itself, Isaiah could answer, “Here I am. Send me.” 

I was pondering this matter when the Lord brought straight to my kitchen table yesterday a living example of such a heart. A bright young woman and I were eating lamb sandwiches. I asked her if she is lonely. “Lonely?  Why should I be?” “You’re single. Most of the single people I know talk about being lonely.” With a look of surprise and then a laugh she said, “Oh no. You see, I have a sense of expectancy every day. What does the Lord want to do with me today? I have no agenda of my own.”

No agenda of my own. That is the key to Linda’s freedom. I continued to question her. Yes, she said, she knows what loneliness feels like- it’s isolation, when you think you can’t reach anybody, nobody reaches you, you’re cut off. You have your own agenda. 

“What do you mean by an agenda?” I asked.  “Thinking there’s only one solution and God has to give you that or nothing. You have a closed mind. A closed mind is a closed heart and a closed door.” 

Now I recognized the reason for the smile which seems always to light Linda’s face. I think it must come from her wholehearted acceptance of God‘s agenda. 

“I love solitude,” she said. “As I drove up here this morning (it was a dazzling winter morning of sunshine and blue sky and blue shadows on the snow) I didn’t have the radio on. I wasn’t listening to tapes. I was just quiet. I love times like that.” 

The heart which has no agenda but God’s is the heart at leisure from itself. It’s emptiness is filled with the love of God. It’s solitude can be turned into prayer. 

Taken from Elizabeth Elliot’s book, “Loneliness.” 

Others focused

Have you heard of them? Those rare people who minister to others inspite of their pain? Inspite of their loneliness? They look not on their own needs, but also on the needs of others? (Philippians 2:4) That’s my friend in long term care. She tells me it’s been 17 years now! Still very healthy in her mind and body, except for mobility issues, but she has a wheelchair to help with that. Tonight I learned, that she use to help feed some of the other residents who couldn’t feed themselves. She did that for 5 years, until under new management they wouldn’t allow it anymore. Food for thought... how can I be a blessing and minister to someone else’s need inspite of my own? “Lord, make me a blessing to someone today!” ❤️🙏🏻

“The answer to our loneliness is love- not our finding someone to love us, but our surrendering to the God who has always loved us with an everlasting love. Loving Him is then expressed in a happy and full-hearted pouring out of ourselves in love to others.” -Elisabeth Elliot

Belonging

As a single, you might find yourself asking, “Where, or to whom do I belong?” Everyone around you seems to be “coupled up.” May you find comfort in the words of this hymn written by Lucy A. Bennett, 

I am the Lord’s! O joy beyond expression,

  O sweet response to voice of love Divine;

Faith’s joyous “Yes” to the assuring whisper,

  “Fear not! I have redeemed thee; thou art Mine.”

I am the Lord’s! It is the glad confession

  Wherewith the Bride recalls the happy day,

When love’s “I will” accepted Him forever,

  “The Lord’s,” to love, to honor and obey.

I am the Lord’s! Yet teach me all it meaneth,

  All it involves of love and loyalty,

Of holy service, absolute surrender,

  And unreserved obedience unto Thee.

I am the Lord’s! Yes; body, soul, and spirit,

  O seal them irrecoverably Thine;

As Thou, Beloved, in Thy grace and fulness

  Forever and forevermore art mine.

Walking with Him

During Jesus three years as an itinerant rabbi he knew what it was to be weary, hungry, and homeless. The common people heard him gladly but the religious elite could not stand him. He was misquoted, misjudged, misrepresented, misunderstood. The Hebrew scholars were forever laying traps for him, challenging, quarrelling, quibbling. He was praised and scorned, followed and forsaken, loved and hated, listened to and rejected, crowned and crucified. He had every reason to feel lonely in the world of men, but it was thus that he learned and demonstrated for us the meaning of obedience – through the things that he suffered. If all he is asking of us just now is the willingness to accept the relatively small discipline of loneliness, can we not see it as a part of His gift of allowing us to walk with him? -Elizabeth Elliot 

Rejection

Several years ago a man’s experience of desolation gave birth to a hymn which has been for me and for many the balm of heaven. George Matheson went blind shortly after becoming engaged. His fiancé broke the engagement. Perhaps there is no more bitter loneliness than that of rejection. Matheson‘s grief, instead of turning to bitter resentment against the lady who had caused it, was transformed. Totally transformed. These profound and simple words show how that happened:

O Love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in thee;

I give thee back the life I owe,

That in thine ocean depths its flow

May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,

I yield my flickering torch to thee;

My heart restores its borrowed ray,

That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day

May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,

I cannot close my heart to thee;

I trace the rainbow through the rain,

And feel the promise is not vain,

That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,

I dare not ask to fly from thee;

I lay in dust life’s glory dead,

And from the ground there blossoms red

Life that shall endless be.

His blindness and rejection proved to be for George Matheson the very means of illuminating the love of God. He may have asked the age-old question, “Why?”, but God’s answer is always, Trust Me. Matheson turned his thoughts away from the woman he had lost, away from the powerful temptations to self-pity, resentment, bitterness toward God, skepticism of his Word, and selfish isolation which might so quickly have overcome him, and lifted up his “weary soul” to a far greater Love - one that would never let him go. -Elisabeth Elliot

Mirror, mirror, on the wall...

Dear friend, 

Do you ever find that you compare yourself with another? Someone more attractive or affluent? Do you feel jealousy creeping in? Do you sometimes ask yourself the following questions? “Why does she get to be married and I remain single?” Or maybe it’s, “I wish I was single like she is.” Maybe it’s about something completely different. Whatever the case, the Lord has a message of freedom for you today! 

When I start comparing myself with someone who I believe has something better, I stop, and think of this passage from John 21:12-23 especially verse 21 and 22. Here, the Lord is telling Peter not to concern himself with what He has in mind for the other disciple, but that Peter should simply follow the Lord. Another passage is, 2 Corinthians 10:12, “For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

These passages show me it’s a sin to compare myself with anyone else, that I must fix my attention solely on the Lord and follow Him. He loves me more than anyone else ever could! His plans for me are good, and not evil! (Jeremiah 29:11)

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, ‘til the things of earth grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace!” 🎶

Valentine’s Day

Valentine's day. It comes every year. What comes into your mind on this day? For many, it's a day of hope and love, of excitement, and joy! But for many, it's a day of loneliness and despair. Why? What makes the difference in our minds? I think it comes down to knowing our value. What is your value, and by whom are you valued? The answer to these questions will make all the difference!  I was talking to a friend of mine, who was explaining how the dowry system worked in India. "The dowry system in India refers to the durable goods, cash, and real or movable property that the bride's family gives to the bridegroom, his parents, or his relatives as a condition of the marriage. A dowry used in this way is actually a conditional gift that is supposed to be restored to the wife or her family if the husband divorces, abuses, or commits other grave offenses against her." The dowry system just goes to show, that in this life, people will disappoint us, often the ones we find ourselves closest to! This can be one big reason for loneliness and despair! What a contrast though, to that of God's unconditional, unchanging love for you and I!  "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:3) When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. BUT GOD demonstrated his love toward us, in that, while we were YET SINNERS, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8) Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your vain conduct received by tradition from your fathers, BUT WITH THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHIRST, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot." (1 Peter 1:18, 19) What value! The life blood of the very Son of God! "Amazing love! How can it be? That Thou my God should'st die for me?! But Jesus lives! The Saviour lives! In Heaven He pleads for me!"

Mary Shekleton understood where her true value came from when she penned these words in 1863,

"Oh! fill me Jesus Savior with Thy love;
Lead, lead me to the living fount above!
Thither may I in simple faith draw nigh
And never to another fountain fly,
But unto Thee."

When you realize your value in God's eyes, you can then share with others how much God values them! Ann Voskamp said this,

"If you’re waiting on God for something, do what waiters do best: serve. Break free of your comfort zone and do something, touch someone, give something, help someone, pray for someone, serve someone, #betheGIFT for someone. You can’t be a world changer until you serve. In serving, you are served a feast of what you’re longing for. Because the One who loves you steadfastly, stood fast at the cross for you, so now stand fast for Him."

https://www.sharefaith.com/blog/2011/01/valentines-day-history-story-st-valentine/

Although the story of Valentine’s Day is shrouded in mystery, buried in tradition, and (thanks to commercialism) stripped of its significance, we can bring some of the truth back. The truth is, love can’t be squelched, outlawed, or stamped out. The significance of Valentine’s life was not that he defended love and romance and performed secret marriages. Valentine--a day now besmirched by cupids, chocolate, and candlelit dinners--is a day founded upon the life of a martyr. Valentine died a bloody death, beaten and beheaded. The truth is, Valentine was in love with his Savior, Jesus Christ. Love for Jesus trumped his love of self. Valentine nobly gave his life for the God he loved. That is true love. But true love is deeper still. It goes beyond our love for God. "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) 

This Valentine’s day, do something different. Sure, talk about love, but talk about true love--the love that God had for us. The love that sent Jesus to a cross. Talk about our love for Him--the kind of love that goes beyond mere comfortable Christian existence. The kind of love that is willing to take risks, to sacrifice everything, and even to give our lives for Him who loved us.

Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Loving kindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,
Shed for us His precious blood.

Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten,
Throughout Heaven’s eternal days.

On the mount of crucifixion,
Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God’s mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide.

Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
And Heav’n’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.

Let me all Thy love accepting,
Love Thee, ever all my days;
Let me seek Thy kingdom only
And my life be to Thy praise!

Thou alone shalt be my glory,
Nothing in the world I see.
Thou hast cleansed and sanctified me,
Thou Thyself hast set me free.

In Thy truth Thou dost direct me
By Thy Spirit through Thy Word;
And Thy grace my need is meeting,
As I trust in Thee, my Lord.

Of Thy fullness Thou art pouring
Thy great love and power on me,
Without measure, full and boundless,
Drawing out my heart to Thee.

William Rees (1802-1883)