When You Feel All Alone…

I still remember how it felt. 

It hurt.  It hurt so much.  

…And I felt so alone…

So Alone

Many years ago, now, I was in an adulterous relationship.  My first wife’s desire was not for fidelity, but for greener pastures outside our marriage covenant.  It was hard.  Her physical adultery was really only the consummation of what had been building for the better part of a year.  By that point, I was largely numb to the pain of the circumstances, as I had been reeling from the infidelity for many months.  

It started with emotional adultery.  She started to waver from me and began to emotionally draw toward other men.  She would tell me of this, and it would hurt… it would hurt like nothing I had ever experienced before.  I am still surprised at the memories… how she would confide in me her feelings for this person or that person.  

I was very confused… very upset… and very much in pain.  I felt so incredibly alone.

This person – who was supposed to be my other half; the person I was supposed to be “one” with; the closest person I had on this planet; my confidant; my go to person – was not there for me in my time of need.  How could she be?  She was the source of my crisis.  So without my closest loved one available to me, I felt completely and utterly alone.

What do you do when the person closest to you hurts you?

What do you do when the person whom you love and/or trust the most completely crushes and destroys you?  I can think of so many examples:

Your spouse is unfaithful to you.

Your spouse hits you or beats you.

Your father molests or sexually abuses you.

Your best friend slanders you or betrays you.

Your legal system fails you.

You Are Not Alone

So whom did I turn to during my moments of crisis?  How did I cope?  The loneliness was suffocating.

“Whom have I…but You?” the Psalmist asks (See Psalm 73:21-26).

All I had was Christ.  Christ was there for me in my time of peril.  He bid me comfort.  And what is so apparent to me now is that our relationship with God should not be confined to a mere deistic awareness or idealism, but a personal reality.

And for all those ways that you have been wronged… for whomever it was that hurt you, the Triune God will succeed in being that person for you that the earthly person could not be.

And here’s how:

Christ is our spouse (Ephesians 5:22-33; Revelation 21:2-3; cf. Ezekiel 16).  He is our perfect Spouse whom is ever faithful to us… though we commit adultery against Him all day long.

God is our Father (Romans 8:14-17; Revelation 21:7).  He has adopted us.  He is our perfect Father whom would never abuse us… though we abused Him by our sin, sending His Son to the cross to effect our undeserved redemption, where He took the beating we deserve.

Jesus is our friend (John 15:13-15).  The Holy Spirit is our Comforter and Counselor.  He will not deride us nor leave us.  He is always present as He lives within us… helping us, guiding us… even while we grieve Him.

God is our sovereign (Romans 13:1).  While God has put government over us as authority, He will never fail to dole out justice.  When we are wronged and our legal system fails us, He sees to it that justice will be served… in this life or the next.

So whether your closest loved one(s) rapes you, beats you, reviles you or wholly betrays you, you will not be alone.  Our Triune God is there for you in exceeding capacity where you have been betrayed by your earthly contemporaries.  He is our Friend… Spouse… Father… Sovereign… and so much more.  There is nothing He cannot be for you. 

And lest we forget, Jesus knows exactly how it feels to be completely alone.  What He felt hanging on the cross, temporarily separated from His eternal heavenly Father… we can never imagine.

And the best part about this assurance: this same person, God, gives you the power to forgive the person that so incredibly wronged you… through the power of Jesus Christ and what He did for you… and that person.

That…… is powerful.

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