Widows and widowers rank high among the people for whom I pray regularly. I can see their eyes light up when they speak of a departed mate. I also seem to see the hurt of loneliness. I cannot tell them I know how they feel, but I can point them to Psalm 139.
The singer of Israel, likely David, realized God is present everywhere. He expressed this by asking two rhetorical questions. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (139:7). He confidently answered, “If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me” (139:9-10).
Jesus knew the Father was always with Him. “Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me” (John 16:32). He expressed it on the cross in his dying moments. “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit’” (Luke 23:46). The Father did not leave his soul in Hades, but raised Him from the dead (Acts 2:31-32).
Jesus delivered the Great Commission immediately before ascending into Heaven. He followed those instructions with a great promise, “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). The writer to the Hebrew Christians declared, “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5-6).
Loneliness brings darkness into many lives. God’s children can overcome it because they are not walking life’s path alone.
