You Are Never Alone

The classic comic character Charlie Brown is shown kneeling beside his bed in prayer. The room is empty except for him. The caption is: “Security is …. knowing you are never alone.” Put that on the marque of your mind and keep the lights on.

An outstanding high-school athlete sought by nearly one hundred schools to sign with them, asked me to pray with him about it. We were by ourselves as we prayed. As we parted he concluded, “Let’s the two of us pray about it and the three of us will settle it.” He knew God wanted to have a part in the decision making.

He was aware our beloved Lord promised, “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41: 10)

The word dismayed means to develop a defeatist attitude, a hopeless outlook, a sour disposition, a joyless spirit. Bottom line, don’t give up. 

This takes courage. Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes it is simply a quiet voice that says, “I will try again tomorrow.”

The text presents two “I ams.”

First, “I am with you.” We need to be able to focus on the line from Psalm 23, “Thou art with me….” Ringing in your ear more clearly that the blasphemy of the crowd should be the words of your Beloved: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” That is the reason we should not fear.

Second, “I am your God.” The word used in the text for God is “Elah” or “Eloah.” “El” means the strong one. Elah speaks of durability. It carries the idea of faithfulness. He is faithful.

Don’t let success go to your head or failure to your heart. Sometimes you may think you are being rejected by God, when you are simply being redirected by God.

With your hand still on the doorknob of the unknown you can enter it with boldness because of the infinite resources of your faithful God.      

James the half-brother of Jesus, who became a follower after the resurrection, wrote: “ When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become a man of mature character with the right sort of independence. And if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet any particular problem he has only to ask God—who gives generously to all men without making them feel foolish or guilty—and he may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will be given him. But he must ask in sincere faith without secret doubts as to whether he really wants God’s help or not.” (James 1:2-8)

You are never alone. Sing it, “never alone, no never alone, He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.”