The key verse:
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 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.

Introduction

Over the past two weeks I have felt the urge, or need, to remind Christians that we are ministers of reconciliation – better understood as ambassadors of restoration.  I also felt the urge to let both the believer and non-believer that you don’t have to wallow around with a defeated spirit or a dead spirit because my God is a bringer of happiness.  These things I feel are very important for us to know, especially on this winding journey that is life.  I have felt the urge this week to deliver another important reminder, or message for those that do not know this, but you are not alone.  I feel that I need to let somebody, somewhere, know that they are not alone and I hope you join me in sharing this message.

We want and need company

There’s the old saying, “it takes two to tango”.  Whether it is in our nature or not, I do not know, but we feel the need to connect with others around us.  We start off very early in our life developing friendships with our peers.  When you were in nursery school, if you were in nursery school, you started making friends.  When you were in elementary school you began to drift towards the other kids that were like you and you became friends; this is likely a trend that continued throughout your school years.  We eventually grow on to find a special somebody that we choose to spend the rest of our life with.

Have you ever wondered why do we do this?  Why do we feel the need to make friends?  Why is it that we feel the need to settle down and tie the knot with a special somebody?  There is something telling us, deep down inside, “you can’t do this alone.  You can’t go through life like a lone wolf.”  Solomon said it best, “two are better than one” (Ecclesiastes 4:-12).  Solomon figured that if one was to fall the other would be there to pick up the fallen one.  Solomon figured that it’s easier for two to keep warm than it is for one to try and keep him or herself warm.  Solomon figured that one person could easily be overpowered (defeated) but with two they could actually put up a fight and stand a chance.

When you take into consideration what Solomon thought, you will come to think of how right he is.  Nobody will think it to be a bad thing to be surrounded by good support.  Not sure how you feel about it, but I tell you that I absolutely love the support system I have in my life.  When I think of how my family supports me it brings a smile to my face.  When I think of all the acquaintances that supports me I feel encouraged.  With the really good support system that I have, I must tell you that I almost begin to feel like Superman; feeling like there’s nothing that can get to me – like I’m invincible.  I certainly hope that many of you feel the same exact way about the support you have in your life as I do.   Nobody should ever go through life alone.  Nobody should ever lone wolf it through this life.

Being alone

I can’t imagine there is anything fun about going through life alone.  I can’t imagine there is anything that feels good about feeling like you’re alone.  I can’t imagine that anybody truly wants to be alone which is why we try to surround ourselves with family or friends.  Loneliness can quickly turn into sadness which leads to what I spoke of last week – a spirit of defeat.  We want to be loved.  We want for there to be somebody, or maybe many, to be there for us.

I am reminded of an episode of Fresh Prince when the Dean Martin song “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometimes” plays in the background while Will thinks of the stuff he and Jazz would do as friends.  Everybody needs somebody, we need not be alone, but sometimes not even our good support system can understand what we’re dealing with.  What typically happens in those instances is that we push people away, or we simply feel like we’re alone.

Being alone or feeling alone can be a very dangerous thing for us.  People are actually tortured by being left in a room by themselves.  When you’re alone it becomes a contest of you versus yourself – it’s you and your mind (thoughts) duking it out.  When you’re alone, there’s nobody there to pick you up when you fall and believe me, you will fall – we all fall.  Sadly, if you keep falling down and there’s nobody there to pick you up you just might stay down and give up.  When you’re alone you are at your most vulnerable.

Spiritually speaking, it is extremely dangerous for a christian to ever feel as if they are alone – having the idea that nobody will pick you up.  A christian that feels alone is truly in trouble, and vulnerable to the wiles of Satan.  I have a message today for the believer that’s out there that feels alone.  I have a message today for the non-believer that’s out there and feels alone.  Again, I hope that you share this message with somebody, somewhere, because you never know what someone is going through – this is a message that will lift them up.

You are not alone

As I said before, there are going to definitely be days when you feel alone.  There will be days when the support of loved ones might not be felt or simply days when you are in the gutter, but you don’t have to feel as if you are going at it alone. God is with you.  I know that God is with you.  How do I know that?  Let me show you.

Elijah, Old Testament prophet, lived during a very tumultuous time for the prophets.  You have probably heard of Ahab and Jezebel and how they were killing off the prophets.  Elijah lived feeling like he was the last prophet, you will even see him announce this at the showdown at Mount Caramel.  After Elijah proudly called on the Lord, and the Lord consumed the altar at Caramel, Jezebel put a hit out on Elijah.  Understandably, Elijah fled – he ran away.  He was a man that felt so alone that he was ready to give up on life and die.  In that moment of loneliness the Lord sent an angel to Elijah, to feed him, and then the Lord sent Elisha, another prophet, to work with Elijah.  Elijah was never alone in the first place because God was always there with him, and then on top of that God continued to bring him through.

When we take a look at our text for today’s sermon, we come across King David.  In this Psalm you will read that David felt isolated and surrounded by those who hated not only him, but also hated and spoke wickedly against God.  David, like Elijah, turned to the Lord and he cried out to Him.  David felt isolated but in his isolation David said, “if I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there.”  David went on to say that if in the air or on the sea, no matter where he went, God would be there.  When surrounded by his enemies, David knew that God was there.

If I haven’t made it clear yet, let me turn to Jesus Christ.  Jesus was staring down His betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion did not feel alone. He told His disciples, when the hour had come for them to scatter (abandon Him), that He was not alone.  Jesus told them, “I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” I said last week, God does not want His children to not be happy.  What kind of God (Father) would He be if He wanted His children to be anything other than happy?

This week I want to let you know that my God does not abandon His children – He doesn’t allow them to be lonely.  I cant testify today on the Lord’s behalf on this thought.  You have probably heard me say this before, but if not, the christian journey can feel lonely at times.  As a minister, this journey can feel very lonely at times; you can begin to feel like Elijah or even like Noah when he was building the ark.  However, God continues to supply my every need and He is always there comforting and encouraging me.  God always lifts me up!

I feel the need to let somebody know that they are not alone!  When you feel like you have nobody there to talk to, I urge you to cry out to God and He will be there to talk to you.  When you are feeling down and out, and there is nobody there to comfort you, I urge you to cry out to my God and like He did for Elijah and David, God will lift you up!  God is omniscient!  There is nowhere you can go, nowhere you can be, that God will not be there – God is everywhere.  No child of God should ever feel alone!

Now if you do not believe in my God I have a message for you as well.  Trying to take on this life all by yourself is a lot to take on.  As Solomon said, it is better to take on life with somebody there that can help you.  We surround ourselves with the best helpers and supporters that we could possibly have, but in the end we are all human – we can’t always be there for each other.  My God is literally there all the time so if you fall down, and nobody is there to hear you fall… my God will be there to lift you back up!  Seek my God while He can be found because a day is coming when He will not be found.  A day is coming when God will not be there to wipe away the tears or bring about happiness.  In that day, God will be with His children and would have cast away all of those who refused to seek Him while He was literally everywhere.

Never feel like you’re alone, never.  When you begin to feel like that, call on my Lord.