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April 6
The Greatest Loneliness
For reading & meditation: Psalms 119:17-32
"I will obey thee eagerly, as thou dost open up my life." (v.32, Moffatt)
Now that we have seen how crucial is the spiritual principle that life is preceded by death, we move on to consider some of the areas into which God leads us so that this principle may be put to work. If, as we said, this principle is "the deepest law in the universe", then we should not be surprised when God provides us with opportunities to demonstrate its effectiveness. The first area we consider is loneliness. Is this a situation in which you find yourself at the moment? If so, then you can respond to it in one of two ways: you can rebel against it and wallow in self-pity, or you can face it in the knowledge that God is with you in your loneliness and will help you turn it into something positive. Geoffrey Bull, when speaking of his lonely life in Tibet in his book When Iron Gates Yield, said: "The Lord had appointed me to stand in solitude upon the threshold of crisis, yet the only loneliness I had need to fear was that of a corn of wheat afraid to die." A corn of wheat afraid to die - that is the greatest loneliness. Just as there is one sin - the sin of making yourself God (all the rest are sins), so there is just one loneliness - the loneliness of being alone with a self that is not surrendered to God. You see, if you do not understand the principle that going God's way is always the best route to spiritual fruitfulness, then loneliness will hold tremendous terror for you. I say again: there is no greater loneliness than a self that is afraid to die.
Prayer:
O God, if You see that I am "a corn of wheat afraid to die", then uproot that fear - in Jesus' Name. May I echo the psalmist's words: "I will obey thee eagerly, as thou dost open up my life." Amen.
For further study:
1. How did the psalmist feel?
2. What was Jesus' testimony?
