You Are Not Alone
A little over a year ago I joined the Women’s Bible Study at my church. But I need to confess, this was my first Women’s Bible Study that I have attended. Ever. If I really look at the heart of it, pride was keeping me from joining. Pride that I didn’t need “that.” And sitting around a table of women just wasn’t my “thing.” But in all honestly - that was a lie I was listening to and believing. The 10 women I have the privilege of sitting around the table with and discussing the Bible Apologetically (in defense of Faith) is incredible. I look forward to it and love every minute of it.
Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” That means we cannot sharpen ourselves. We need others. Others to challenge our thinking. Others that point us to Truth. When we are alone, our thoughts can become jumbled. We can begin to believe whispers of untruth. And one of those untruths is that we are alone.
Our newest study, by Lysa TerKeurst called Finding I Am, has been such a great study. This past week’s section particularly dove into the heart of what I believe all of us struggle with at one point or another, which is the untruth that we are alone. Alone in our circumstances. Alone in our struggles. Alone in our hurts. Alone in our friendships. Alone in life. Alone in our faith. The list goes on and on. And it happens gradually. It happens a millimeter at a time until the canyon is so wide and deep that we have no clue how we got to where we are. Lysa states it like this, “The enemy wants us alone. Alone with our tangled thoughts. Alone with his whispered lies that start to sound more and more like truths. Separated from the very people who could speak courage into our deep places flirting with discouragement and defeat. Separated from friends who could let us stand on their faith when our own gets a little shaky.” Iron sharpens iron.
There was a time when I felt alone. Alone in a church of 1500+ people. Alone even though I held leadership positions, was constantly involved, upfront, and in a “spotlight” so to speak. But I wasn’t. I had blinders on and couldn’t see those standing next to me. “The enemy knows if he can isolate us, he can intimidate us. Confuse us. Deceive us. And ultimately, make us believe that the safer paths in life are ones apart from God and our friends who serve God.” (Finding I Am pg.72) But know this: YOU ARE NOT ALONE. The place in which you are or struggle with is not new. You aren’t alone. And the hardest part of removing yourself from that whispered lie is confessing it. When we verbalize that place - that spot of feeling alone no longer gives the devil a foothold. It gives life to freedom. Freedom from chains that would much rather keep you in that place of loneliness.
There is one Truth that can set us free from the whispered lie of loneliness. And I know by saying this I create a MASSIVE canyon between myself and how today’s world thinks. I have seen it time and time again and can recognize its ugly face when it begins to entangle someone and they begin to sink into the grave of isolation. When they begin to sink into the whispered lies and remove themselves from the Truth they once knew. And I have ran after them. Held out my hand and in my heart and words tried to help them not slip into a reality of untruth. But it comes down to a choice. A choice for us to throat punch the whispered lies of untruth and confess: I am NOT alone and grab the Hand of the One who can pull us out of that lie and for us to see that we are surrounded by an Army to sharpen us.
