I Feel Your Pain

H.G Wells on his 65th birthday confessed to the amazement of his "friends", "I am sixty-five, and I am lonely and have never found peace." Someone has determined that a city is a place where people are lonely together. The staggering feelings of being alone are not relegated only to those who do not know the Lord. The famous Southern Baptist missionary Lottie Moon said when reflecting on her work, "I hope no missionary will ever be as lonely as I have been." Loneliness is a pain that no words can describe.

You might be surprised to know that Jesus experienced loneliness like no other soul ever has. Most often we picture Jesus with throngs of people around Him, His close friends, and His inner circle, yet at the end of His life loneliness reigned. It is true that Jesus our Savior relates to our physical pain, but it is also true that He understands our emotional pain as well.

As I read Mark 14 and the events that took place in the Garden of Gethsemane, I am astounded at the range of emotions that Jesus displays. He truly was fully human at the deepest level-emotionally. A crucifix can remind us that Jesus was God in flesh, which is why the crucifix came into being in the 4th century, but only the words of Jesus can remind us that He was human at the emotional level as well.

The Scriptures tell us that: They came to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." He took Peter James and John along with him, and began to be deeply distressed and troubled. Jesus knows what is coming and in this dark hour, He desires to have people with Him. I find it quite touching that he took His disciples with Him, and then once He got them settled, He asked His three closest friends to go a little further with Him. Jesus did not want to be alone. He wanted human companionship and comfort.

Mark tells us that Jesus was deeply distressed and that he was overwhelmed in his soul. There can be many reasons for these feelings but one thing is for sure, Jesus was dreading the total isolation that He was going to endure in His death. He was going to be deserted by His followers and closest friends. He was going to have His own Father turn away from Him while hanging on the cross-a loneliness that goes beyond our imagination!

I believe it was St. John of the Cross that came up with the expression for this kind of emotional pain calling it, "The dark night of the soul." There comes a time in each of us when we see only clouds and feel nothing but despair. One brother was honest enough to write, "God's people have no assurances that the dark experiences of life will be held at bay, much less that God will provide some sort of running commentary on the meaning of the each day's allotment of confusion, boredom, pain, or achievement."

No, the sun does not always shine for those who are followers of Jesus Christ. Suffering and pain come to us to do the work of God's formation of our lives and character. Not all adversity in life comes from dark and sinister forces that want to destroy us. Some pain comes from the hand of God in order to bring growth in our lives. Isolation is painful but it reveals a great deal about our frailty. There is nothing like loneliness to make you realize that being an island goes against God's plan for us.

If you are facing loneliness today, you must first admit your loneliness to yourself. Evaluate your loneliness and how you got to the point where you are. Jesus realized His friends could not feel His pain, so He left them alone and went to pray to His Father. His Father could understand. Have you ever confessed to God and to Jesus that you are lonely? Have you ever told them how much it hurts? Have you ever written a letter to your Father explaining just how you feel?

As an introvert myself, the one thing I know is that if I want friendships (and I do) I have to go and make them. People rarely reach out to one another, even at church. Have you ever been a visitor at a church? Wow, talk about a lonely feeling-all those people yet no one talks to you. The only way to overcome this is to show yourself friendly. You have to get involved and meet people. And at the same time you also have to be careful of trying so hard that you wear people out. If people are avoiding you, maybe it's because you have gone beyond friendly to the point of irritation.

I want you to take comfort today knowing that Jesus experienced the range of emotions that you experience. In the garden, Jesus got upset, discouraged, and depressed that His best friends could not stay awake and pray for Him. In this passage, Jesus says the famous words, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Jesus, the creator of our flesh and spirit knows exactly how we operate. He knows the weakness of the flesh and the weakness of our spirit.

Let Jesus, through His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, minister to your spirit today. Pour out your heart and ask the Spirit to not only comfort you, but also sustain you, and give you wisdom as to how to move out of your loneliness. Remember, you are not alone, and you never have been. God is always with you and every brother and sister has experienced those same emotions. Receive comfort, receive the Lord and comfort someone else today as well.

God bless you,

Dan

Copyright 2008 Eternity Minded Ministries