My wife and I just got back from driving our daughter, Grace, a thousand miles away to attend college. When we left her there it was a tearful goodbye and I know she felt alone and stranded from what’s familiar and from those she loves. Many first-year college students feel homesick. Fortunately, in time, they recover and even thrive as they make friends, get involved with school, and establish roots after their transplant. Grace is taking one day at a time. Although she is by herself she knows she is not alone. God is with her.
In a sense going away to college is a rite of passage as high schoolers mature into young adults. Many cultures celebrate rites of passage that involve a “wilderness” experience. The developmental quest typically includes separation, isolation, reflection, and physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges. Similarly, if you want to follow God you will most likely go through a “wilderness” experience in order to become who God made you to be. In the Bible we see this was the case for so many people who placed their faith in God like Job, Noah, Abraham, Hagar, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the Israelites, Nebuchadnezzar, Elijah, David, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, lepers, Jesus, and Paul. Traversing the wilderness forces you to rely on God. As you do, you consistently experience him walking with you and sustaining you one step at a time.
God’s calling on your life will always be bigger than you. Author, Jonathan Cahn, writes about the mantle (“aderet” in Hebrew) that was bestowed by Elijah upon Elisha who was to carry on without Elisha as God’s prophet in turbulent times (2 Kings 2:1-15). If you want to follow God, Cahn’s wise insight about the mantle applies to you. “Aderet means large, big, great, wide, powerful, excellent, noble, mighty, and glorious. Each one is given an aderet, a mantle, a calling…It won’t fit. It won’t match who you are. And there will be times when you’ll struggle with that, with its magnitude in comparison to who you are…Your mantle is not meant to fit who you are. It’s meant to fit who you are to be, who you are to become.” God is always preparing you for what he has next. He is continually taking you through experiences that will transform you into the likeness of Jesus as a son or daughter in his family.
This can be a lonely process and people walk this path at different seasons in life like when they are lost, oppressed, or feel abandoned.
Spiritually Lost Some people walk alone because they are spiritually lost and don’t realize yet that God has a plan for them. Hagar and the nation of Israel each experienced this as they wandered in the desert (Genesis 21:8-21; Exodus 13:17 -14:31). Yet God met them at their point of need and provided a way out of the desert as they placed their faith in him.
Oppressed Some people walk alone because they are oppressed by their own sin or the sin of others. The apostle Peter experienced this after betraying Jesus (Luke 22:54-62; John 21:1-19). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were unjustly thrown into a fiery furnace (Daniel 3:8-30). David ran for his life for several years as King Saul hunted him (1 Samuel 18-24, 26). Again God met them at their point of need. He forgave and reinstated Peter. He stood in the fire with Shadrach, Mechach and Abednego and kept them from harm until they were released. He sustained, delivered, and eventually enthroned David. Each of them experienced God walking with them as they put their faith in him.
Abandoned on Mission Some people feel like they are walking alone on mission when they are obeying God. This happens when they face opposition while trying to do the right thing, share the truth, love others, or serve those in need. For Abraham and his son, Issac, the journey to Mount Moriah to sacrifice Issac at God’s command must have felt lonely (Genesis 22:1-18). After a great victory over the false prophets of Baal, Elijah despaired in the desert when his life was threatened (1 Kings 18:7-19:18). The disciples of Jesus hid in fear after Jesus was brutally crucified (John 20:19-23). In each case none of them were ever alone, it just felt that way. As always, God faithfully met them, his children, at their point of need reassuring them with his presence, honoring their obedience, and bolstering them to continue to walk by faith for his glory and the benefit of others.
Are you in the “wilderness” right now? Do you feel lonely, lost, oppressed, or abandoned on mission? You might feel lonely at times, but you don’t have to be alone. God is with anyone and for anyone who seeks him. That’s why Jesus, the Son of God, came—to pay for your sin by dying for you and to give you victory over sin and death by rising again. Jesus brings God to you and brings you to God. So no matter what your present circumstances are, you can fellowship with God who is greater than your circumstances and who wants to be with you. Don’t walk alone. Walk with God by faith, and enjoy his presence like David who wrote, “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:8-11).
Note: The song, “There Was Jesus” by Zach Williams with Dolly Parton speaks to the truth of God being with those who seek him.