Alone...

With God

My late wife Jeannette on October 18, 2017 in Toulumne County, CA. Getting “alone with God”

Sometimes we have to get alone…with God to realize that we are not alone.

Reading through the Bible…Judges 6-10/Luke 5

Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (Luke 5:16 NIV)

Jesus must feel alone, don’t you think? Judas betrays Him. The rest of His disciples abandon Him. An angry and misguided crowd calls for His crucifixion.

Jesus must experience loneliness during this week that Christians call and commemorate as Holy Week.

Still, Jesus prepares for it. Jesus prepares for the times when He will feel alone by finding times and places where He can actually be alone…with God.

Jesus often withdraws to Eremos (ἔρημος) the Greek word that my late dad’s NIV Bible translates as a lonely place. It refers to a place that is uninhabited, deserted, a wilderness.

Jesus takes time away from people to remember that He is never far away from His Heavenly Father. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? asks the Psalmist (Psalm 139:7ff) When Jesus withdraws to lonely places, He asks and answers that rhetorical question.

There are places that may be deserted or uninhabited by people. There are no such places for God.

If we want to, if we are willing to take the time to, we can find lots of places where we can be alone…with God. That is the good news.

Writing…

Now for the bad news.

This goes without saying, but let me say it anyway. The Internet is not one of those places. The Internet is anything but a lonely place. It can bring us face to face with lots of other people. Screen time, however, cannot Peniel us.

Generally, doomscrolling will not make us feel less alone. Being alone…with our computer…will more like make us feel more, rather than less, alone.

Surfing the Internet with our laptop or phone alone will drain its battery. More importantly, it will drain ours.

A friend shares a story yesterday.

He recharges his battery personally by trail running (I know, spending hours running through mud and mire is not my idea of re-creation). Still, recently he drives his electric car to a trail running event somewhere near Detroit.

He plans to stop at a Meijer Grocery store to plug in to their electric charging station. He has bags of cans to return while he waits for a quick charge.

Problem is, the quick charge doesn’t work. He goes to another charging station with the same results.

Knowing that he doesn’t have enough electricity to drive home, he drives to and runs in his mysteriously re-creative trail race. After the race, he again stops at a Meijers. This time, however, he realizes that for some reason, his car will only let him do a slow charge.

So, with returnable cans still in the car, he buys a sleeping bag at Meijer’s. (He can’t heat the car without electricity). Then, he curls up in his car and waits alone for six hours to charge his vehicle. At 2:00 AM he arrives back home with a recharging story to tell to his wife and us.

Building…

My point? There are a lot of ways to be alone with God and get recharged.

I have a room in my house where I get alone with God. Everyday I go into that room, shut the door and pray to my Father who sees in secret. (Matthew 6:6)

I also have a couple of lonely place Lakes that I frequent. When I’m feeling alone, (which is more often than I would like) I can either walk over to Lake Macatawa or drive to Lake Michigan.

Where is your lonely place. Where do you plug in and get recharged?

Sometimes we have to get alone…with God to remember that we are not alone.