Virginia Brandt Berg (1898-1968)
In John Chapter 16, verse 27, Jesus said, "Ye shall leave me alone, and yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me." Such wonderful words: "I am not alone, for the Father is with me." I've been amazed in recent years to find so many, many lonely people. Multitudes of people who have an abundance of everything as far as life's concerned, things to satisfy, yet so many who complain of utter loneliness.
I live in a little town by the sea shore, an ideal home place for the old people, many of whom drive about in these little electric cars. There are no curbs at the corners and that's for their convenience so they can cross the street with ease and get up on the sidewalk. I've noticed in the eating places some whom seem so alone. One old man said one day, "I moved here because they say 'hi' to you when they pass you on the street, and the waitress smiled at me." -- Such loneliness in old age that even a smile meant so much! Well, that's one kind of loneliness, the loneliness of old age, when the life companion is gone, or old friends have passed away.
Then there's the loneliness of leadership, when because of conviction one is opposed and rejected. Jesus experienced that, and in John Chapter 6 we find theses words, "Many of His disciples went back, and walked with Him no more."
Then there's the loneliness of defeat. Elijah knew this, when under the Juniper tree he wished me might die because he was so pursued.
There are other kinds of loneliness, it's something that may happen to anyone through changed conditions -- loss of loved ones and so forth. But the fact remains that a Christian doesn't have to walk alone for Jesus, for Jesus said, "I am not alone, because the Father is with me."
Before I knew the Lord, years ago I was traveling in Europe, and one day I found myself standing on the sidewalk in London, not daring to move, for a dense fog had enveloped the city. It was so dense that I could not see to move without danger, and so I stood there with hundreds teaming about me, bumping shoulders with some, but still feeling all alone. It's a frightening loneliness amidst throngs of people, and in those days before I found Jesus, I'd often feel that inner sense of loneliness that would strike terror to my heart.
But I can truly say that I've never felt that since Jesus came into my heart. Even on strange foreign soil, under very odd circumstances, when I was caught in the trap of a revolution, I felt Christ's presence near, and His sustaining promises undergirding me with strength and courage, and I had no fear then.
Some of the loneliest people are those who are constantly surrounded by many others, yet they feel that not one of the others understands them. -- That is, the real person whom they are, and they long to share with someone their interests and problems, to sympathize with them. But it's true that even your life-long companion, your closest friend, does not really know you, does not really understand you after all, because in every life there's a locked door or two where no one enters but yourself. There is a sonnet about two lives with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one. But someone once wisely said, "You watch, somewhere along the line they will be moments when those two hearts will beat only as a duet."
So why then is there this deep craving to be understood by someone? Why is there this intense longing to have someone enter into what we feel of joys and triumphs, sorrows and defeats? For when we climb the heights of exaltation, there is no one who can fully enter into our emotions. -- And in the depths of sorrow, some tears are always shed alone. Why is it? Why is there this cry for someone to fully understand us, to truly know us?
Why is such a cry always in the soul of Man? Has God, Who made us a living soul, made some mistake, in this, His masterpiece -- Man? Has He left some void in our makeup? He's made provision for every other hunger of life -- bread for the hunger of the body, knowledge for the hunger of the mind, love for the hunger of the heart. Has He then left the soul unsatisfied? -- This longing for true understanding unfulfilled? Has He left this loneliness of ours unanswered? Well, there is an answer to these questions.
God made you for Himself, and He knew that this very sense of isolation, of not being understood, would drive you to Him. God Himself is the answer, the fulfillment. And only as He Himself fills that longing will you ever be satisfied. He made you that way, He made you for Himself, and not until He fills your life will you ever be free from that loneliness. He's put a little sign on the table of your heart which read, "Reserved for Me." He knew that when Man found human sympathy so lacking that he would seek for the Divine.
"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." -- Heb.4:15. Christ Himself is touched with your every longing. As He enters your life, He becomes your satisfaction. God's Word says so, "Christ is a satisfying portion." He'll satisfy every longing of your heart.
Christ is verily God, and God is big enough, great enough to fill any soul, and He's complete companionship, ideal and perfect friendship. This lack which you feel, this incompleteness is a need of your soul for God. He Who made you is the only One Who can fill every part, every avenue of your life. There's no need to ever be lonely. Jesus said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, for lo, I am with you always." -- Heb.13:5; Mat.28:20.
You need not be discouraged, for you have all these wonderful promises in God's Word, with God's backing them up, with all His Power, Truth and Love. Let Him come into your lonely heart and take over, and then you can say, as Jesus said, "I am not alone because the Father is with me." Turn your lonesome heart to God. You're hungering for God, and this is His way of drawing you to Him, a manifestation of His Love and longing for you.
Some time ago a young woman wrote us, saying, "I've a hard time thinking of God as you do. I always had the intense feeling that He's angry with me, as if He is some severe judge Who has His face turned away because of my failures. -- Or a hard taskmaster, just waiting to pounce on me with His judgments." What a pity, when He says He's loved you with an everlasting love (Jer.31:3), when He's yearning in deep sympathy and understanding for your companionship. Make friends with Jesus today.
"Friends all around me are trying to find
What the heart longs for by sin undermined.
I have the secret, I know where 'tis found,
Only true friendship in Jesus abounds.
All that I need is in Jesus
He satisfies, joy He supplies.
Life would be worthless without Him,
All things in Jesus I find."
"Is the midnight closing around you,
Are the shadows dark and long?
Ask Him to come close beside you,
And He'll give you a new sweet song.
He'll give it and sing it with you,
And when weakness lets it down,
He'll take up the broke
And blend it with His Own."
I like that part so much, "He'll blend it with His Own." He'll take over every avenue of your life, stand at the controls, guide you, live His life through you and blend it with His Own.
"I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus,
That I found in Him a Friend so strong and true.
I would tell you how He changed my life completely,
He did something that no other friend could do.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus,
There's no other friend so kind as He.
No one else could take the sin and sadness from me.
Oh, how much He cares for me.
"Every day He come to me with new assurance,
More and more I understand His Words of Love.
But I'll never know just why He came to save me,
Till some day I see His blessed face Above.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus,
There's no other friend so kind as He.
No one else could take the sin and sadness from me.
Oh, how much He cares for me."
Remember this: God lives, and prayer does change things