Standing Alone In Affliction

For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a person may be weighed down by misery. Ecclesiastes 8:6 

  

  Some of my loneliest times have been when my illnesses had me at my worst. Though friends and family have supported and comforted me, suffering is something you do alone. It is just you and God when life is boiled down to its bare essentials. No one can suffer for you or take your suffering from you. 

  

A servant of God must stand so very much alone that he never realizes he is alone. In the early stages of the Christian life, disappointments will come— people who used to be lights will flicker out, and those who used to stand with us will turn away. We have to get so used to it that we will not even realize we are standing alone. ---Oswald Chambers 

  

  What makes suffering bearable when everyone else seems so distant and you feel isolated in your pain is the fact that God stands beside you. Everyone else seems a million miles away, yet God is in your corner no matter how hard the fight or how much pain afflicts you. 

  Lonely indeed would be our misery if it were not for God. You can do without anyone else if God stands with you. Every Christian in prison, every brother and sister alone in a hospital room, every believer alone anywhere in the world can tell you it makes all the difference having God with them no matter how tough the painful circumstances. 

  For every parent who has lost a child, and every child a parent, for those enduring the pain of divorce, no one need explain loneliness to them. Pain and suffering introduces us to loneliness, and only with God can we endure it.  

  Those standing alone in affliction can say that God is good. Not because of circumstances, but because our great Maker knows our pain and need and is there to meet us in our aloneness. When circumstances are overwhelming and pain weighs us down to the ground we can look up and experience the grace and peace of God as we fasten our eyes upon Him. More than this, we can become sensitive to His Presence, and that Presence is most powerful when our need is greatest. 

  Prayer: Dear Lord, the weight of our suffering can be too much to bear, and our loneliness seems overwhelming at such times. Yet You never fail us, never leave us, never forsake us. Thank You Lord for always being there. Amen.