You Are Never Alone

 I’ve been recently drawn into “The Last Alaskans,” a series documentary about the difficulties of life for the four remaining families residing in a remote preserve the size of South Carolina, The National Arctic Wildlife Refuge. To be fair, the rest of my family does not find the series to be quite as riveting, so I rarely have the opportunity to watch even a complete episode before someone begs me to find something else to watch. 

Why is it hard to sit down and watch? It’s pretty slow moving, its fairly monotonous, and in the end, its downright lonely. These families live 200 miles from their nearest neighbor, who is also all alone. How isolating it must feel! Any correspondence comes to them by AM radio broadcast once a week, where a volunteer reads aloud letters written to those beyond the reach of the post office. How do they cope? How do they go about the “normal” activities of the day without other human interaction?

I was reading This morning from 1 Kings 19 where the prophet Elijah is hiding out in a cave feeling defeated and afraid. In God’s power, he had just defeated the 450 prophets of Baal, confronted the weak King Ahab, and called out the evil Queen Jezebel. Yet, he felt all alone as one of the last prophets of the true God. 

I’m not sure what your circumstance may be, but perhaps you need to hear this today. Perhaps you feel alone. Perhaps you feel forgotten. The Lord did not allow Elijah to remain down and defeated. The Lord was faithful to show himself strong. He spoke to Elijah and reminded him of his power and purpose. 

You see, passages like this illustrate for us that people are God’s treasure. He made mankind in His own image, and when our sin corrupted God’s perfect creation, our Heavenly Father made a way through His Son Jesus for us to find our way back to a right relationship with a Holy God. The Lord addressed the deepest needs of Elijah’s soul, and He will do the same for each of us as well. 

When you feel alone, when you face hard times, may your ears be open to hear the gentle whisper of our loving Father. 

- Pastor Milo
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