Psalm 139 “Never Alone”

Psalm 139 “Never Alone”

Last week I talked about the importance of friendship, finding good friends and being a good friend. No matter how many people know or friends we have there are times we feel alone. Loneliness is a difficult thing to handle.

The survival group Outward Bound, as part of their training has an isolation day, 24 hours of being in the wild with nothing and completely alone. It is surprising how unnerving it is for people.

Loneliness comes to us in many ways, the children grow up and move out, your spouse dies, a friend dies, you retire, you are at home due to illness or physical limitations, or in a nursing home. There are also times in the middle of a crowd we can feel lonely.

In 1 Kings 19:14 Elijah just finished his battle with the prophets of Baal with all the people cheering him. Elijah ram into the mountains and this is what he tells God. “I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

In 2 Kings 6 Elisha and his servant find themselves surrounded by an army, the servant says to Elisha “Alas, my master! What shall we do” translated “we are all alone”.

Like these two great prophets of God, for whatever reason we feel alone. A song in “how the west was won” the singer cries “I’m so lost, so dog gone lost, that even God can’t find me.”

So, what do we do about loneliness?

Seek relationship with someone. Make an effort to go meet people. It is surprising that we are often afraid to connect with people. Join a club, volunteer, buy a puppy and walk it around town.

Know the truth that you are not alone.

Psalm 139 says that God knows when you get up or lie down. God knows what you say and what you think. God watched you being formed as a baby and still sees you today. The psalm tells us there is no place where we are hidden from God and His Spirit. Verse 17 says. “    How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!  If I would count them, they are more than the sand.      I awake, and I am still with you.”

1 Kings 19:18 God tells Elijah you are not alone; “there are seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal.” In 2 Kings Elisha prays for God to open his servant’s eyes; “So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha and his servant.”

We are not alone.

How can we help lonely people?

Be sensitive to what people are saying and what is going on in their life.

Give them your time.

Shut-ins and nursing homes, go visit people. I hear from people “they don’t know I am there” “they will forget I have been there before I am out the door.” “I don’t know what to do because they don’t talk.” Yet we often hear from caregivers that a person’s whole week was better because someone came and visited.

Just sit with them, read the Bible to them, read a book, watch tv with them, whatever. We do not know what they experience, but we do know our presence makes a difference.

While we all need alone time, we must fight loneliness by making better connections with people and with God. The Bible says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” And “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 
nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We are never alone!

Friendship Ecclesiates 4:9-12

Friends are a source of strength in our lives, supporting us through great difficulties. Friends also have the power to cause great pain and even ruin our lives. Therefore, it is imperative that we choose friends wisely. It is also important to know what a good friend looks like, and how to be one.

The friendship I am talking about is not the superficial stuff of Facebook or some club. Proverbs 18:24 says “a man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

I was watching a nature show about wolves. The key to a successful hunt was for them to get one deer cut off and alone. Satan is much smarter than a wolf, He knows if he can get you alone his chances of defeating you have greatly improved. One of the best ways to get you alone is trick you into thinking you are not. You have heard of being all alone in a crowd, that might very well describe people today.

 True friendship is going to take time. It takes purposeful investment, sharing and trust.  Our passage describes two people who are together. A cord of three strands twisted together. With our busy schedules, this seems impossible. Yet friendship easies the burden not adds to it.

Who do you choose as a friend?

1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “do not be deceived, bad company ruins good morals.” So, one of the questions you need to ask is; what kind of choices do you see this person making? Are they foolish choices? Are they choices that honor God?

Proverbs 17:9 says, “Whoever covers an offence seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates good friends. Luke 16:10 says, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.”  Which brings a second question to be asked. What has this person done with what you have told them, or they already know about you?

Proverbs 16:28 “a whisper separates good friends” This is not about gossip but of steadfastness. Can someone whisper in a person’s ear and turn their friendship? If they can, the person is not much of a friend. Will they not talk to you or spend time with you because you voted for the wrong candidate?

How do you be a friend to someone?

Do you take the time to invest in them?
Are you making godly choices in your life? Are you good company?
Are you faithful in what a person trusts you with?
Will stand with them, by them? Even when you know they are making a mistake?
You don’t have to approve of what they do but you do not desert them.

Now I want to tell you about the greatest friend I have ever had, Jesus. The greatest friend you can ever have, Jesus.

In John 15:13 Jesus said, “no greater love has any man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends, and you are my friends.”

Romans 5:8 says “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Hebrews 13:5 God says, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

You can start a friendship with Jesus today.

“What To Do With Anger” James 1:19&20

“What To Do With Anger” James 1:19&20

 

Anger and hate is the number one problem facing our world and our nation. If you need convincing just look at the news from Charlottesville, Va. 3 dead and 35 injured in connection to a white nationalist rally. 1 dead and 19 injured when a car ran down people in the counter protest rally.

 

CNN

“The crash occurred approximately two hours after clashes in which hundreds of people screamed, chanted, threw punches, hurled water bottles and unleashed chemical sprays on each other ahead of the scheduled noon demonstration.”

 

Donald Trump

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides. On many sides. It's been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. This has been going on for a long, long time."

 

James 1:19&20 is so appropriate for our time and for today.

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires”

 

The trouble with anger is that once the fuse is lit our brains and hearts stop working. It is not that we should not be angry or have a right to be angry, it’s what we do in our anger that is the problem.

Chris Rock

“Some people say there is no good reason to hit a woman, there are plenty of good reasons to hit a woman, but you’re not supposed to do it, there are good reasons to push an old man down a flight of stairs, but you’re not supposed to do it.”

 

It is not that we have reasons to be angry, it is what we do with that anger. This is why it is one of the top issues in the Bible. The very first sin is motivated by Satan’s anger toward God. The second sin is motivated by Cain’s anger toward God. Jesus makes anger one of His top issues.

 

Matthew 5:21-26

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

 

Matthew 18:15

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.”

 

Paul also warns against the outcome of our anger.

 

Ephesians 4:26-31

26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

 

It is true that even Jesus got angry, He argued with the religious leaders of the people. Jesus chased the money changers from the temple. But we must remember that Jesus is God and we are not. Jesus had the ability to control these emotions, that most of us do not possess.

 

For most of us James statement is true. “human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires”. At least I know it’s true in my life. My biggest mistakes and actions I regret the most have taken place in anger.

 

How do we deal with our anger?

 

Listen:

Think before you speak:

Quickly: “don’t let the sun go down on it”

 

Go to them: “Matthew 18:15

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.”

Matthew 5:23-24

So, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 

 

Change your motive:

Forgive generously: Matthew 5:44

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.

 

Matthew 6:14

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 
but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

 

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires”

Fear

Joshua 1:1-11

Joshua 1:1-11  After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, 
“Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. 
Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. 
From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. 
No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. 
Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 
Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

If someone had a right to be fearful it is Joshua.
How do you follow someone who parted the red sea?

How was he going to deal with all these people?
Joshua knew just how frustrating they could be.
Oh, Moses you take the easy part and I’m stuck leading the battles.

Ask most leaders of any group and you will find their greatest fears are not about the battles ahead. Their greatest fears are from the people they are leading.

The single biggest battle the modern church faces are a failure to trust and believe in person God has sent to lead them.

 

Fear in our personal lives causes depression and anxiety, but it comes out in many other ways. Fear can cause anger, substance abuse, isolation bulling and even hoarding. Fear has fueled wars, attacks on countries and attacks on people. Fear also can become crippling compliancy. “It’s comfortable here and I am afraid I will not be comfortable over there.”

 

It is true the Bible talks about fear as a good thing. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Proverbs 1:7 But the word there is connected to respect for the power of something. When is the last time you cowered near a power line running to your house? But you respect that power line, you don’t play with it or touch it. The healthy respect for the power of God is a good thing.

 

What can we do to overcome our fears?

1.      Recognize them for what they are.

a.      Why am I acting they way I do?

b.      Why do I feel the way I do?

c.       The school bully

2.      Be strong and courageous

a.      Three times God tells Joshua this

b.      Each time it is follow by a “You can do this”

c.       The Lord will do these things.

3.      What to do

a.      Vs 8 know and do what God commands

b.      “It is not by might and not by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord” Zech 4:6

c.       Build a safe place.

d.      Your home

e.      Our church

When we face our fears honestly, focus on knowing and doing God’s word, we have taken a step toward living a life of courage. “It is not by might and not by power but by My spirit says the Lord” Be strong and Courageous.