Power Point - November 4, 2004

 

November 4, 2004

 

For my days are consumed like smoke,

And my bones are burned like a hearth.

                                       --Psalm 102:3

 

The noted Swiss psychologist, Paul Turnier, said that loneliness plagues more people than any other problem. He called it the most devastating “malady” of this age.

 

Certainly loneliness is a problem that people face. It is a problem that can attack anyone regardless of age, race, or social status, and is not concerned with ones position in life. It attacks at various times of the day, and oddly enough, may menace us at times when we least expect to confront the problem. It can be chilling, dangerous, and even deadly.

 

You can be lonely in crowds and cities, people living so close together, and yet feel so far apart from them. You can be anywhere—in a group, at a party, walking down the school halls, in the classroom, at a restaurant—and experience that sense of alienation and loneliness.

 

Psychologists now call it cosmic loneliness. There is a total reality about it that carries many expressions. Loneliness is:

 

·         Being six-years-old at your first day of school and not knowing the name of another student in the classroom.

·         Learning that your parents are getting divorced and you don’t know which parent you’ll be living with.

·         The empty nest and watching a child leave home for the last time.

·         Waiting in a sterile room called ICU while the dearest and best, the one you love the most is fighting for life.

·         Sometimes being at the top…where the buck stops.

·         Being single and wondering if anybody cares.

·         Being married and wondering if anybody cares.

·         Saying “no” when all the other girls and guys seem to be saying “yes.”

·         Your daughter’s wedding or your mate’s funeral.

·         An empty place at the table, an empty space in the bed, and an empty place in your heart.

 

This is loneliness. So, what’s the real cause? It is the need to love and to be loved, understood and accepted, and the problem of separation. If you are experiencing loneliness, the good news is that Jesus Christ came to rid you of loneliness. Remember that He is your Helper, Friend, Confidant, Savior, and Lord. Trust in Him, lean on Him, and He will heal your hurts and hold your hand through these dark times.

 

WITHOUT CHRIST, YOU WILL BE THE LONELIEST PERSON ON THE PLANT.

LEAN ON HIM IN YOUR TIME OF NEED.