DAILY DEVOTIONAL – June 24, 2021
“Fish-free”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the only one who is our true friend. You know what we are going through better than we do, and You are faithful to be with us and carry us through this life into the eternity You have made possible through Your dying and rising in our place. Help us Lord to lean on and learn from You. Amen.
Scripture: John 16:32-33
32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Devotional – “Fish-free”
So here is a little riddle for you. What can a person experience with equal intensity both by themselves and when in a crowd? Answer: loneliness.
I’m not sure if this is still true, but in 2017 the UK based Independent newspaper reported on the The Hotel Charleroi in Belgium that was renting out goldfish to serve as companions for lonely customers spending the night alone in their room. After one customer put out a picture of the table in the hotel where the fish were being sold, it quickly went viral on social media, and the hotel began to rent 3-5 fish per week. I’m certainly not trying to downplay the reality of loneliness, but I think a goldfish in your hotel room is more of a decoy, a distraction from loneliness, rather than an actual remedy for it.
It’s strange how being completely alone and by yourself doesn’t necessarily mean you are lonely, and how the presence of a large crowd could prove to only magnify a feeling of loneliness. Considering this truth, loneliness is something very different from being alone.
When God first made man, He looked at Adam whom He had made and declared in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good that man should be alone.” This was God’s way of saying that He wasn’t finished creating Adam yet. Adam was made perfect in quality, however, to be complete and experience all the joys of life that God created man for, man was to exist in relationship. God made Eve for Adam and Adam for Eve not so that their relationship would exclude God or because their individual relationships with God were not enough, but because the one God who exists eternally in relationship, in Trinity, made us in His image. Our relationships with each other were given to serve our relationship with God and to allow us to know and experience Him. When the relationship between God and man was broken by the sin of Adam and Eve, so too were our relationships with each other. Adam and Eve were ashamed of their nakedness because of their shame before God. Cain killed his brother Abel not because Abel did anything wrong, but because Cain was embarrassed and ashamed of his sin against God that Abel’s faithfulness exposed.
The only hope for ensuring fulfilling and meaningful relationships between each other is to have our relationship with God restored first and remain our priority. If our relationships with other sinful people take precedence over our relationship with God, even our relationships with our spouse and children and closest friends, that is when our relationships will begin to leave us unsatisfied and lonely even if we are the most popular person we know. God created us for a relationship with Him that is to be experienced through right relationships with each other. Losing sight of our first love and our best friend could leave us trying to cure our loneliness with a goldfish. The only relief for loneliness is to remain closest with the God who is the source of all life and love.
Christ was forsaken by God on the cross in our place so that we would have the absolute assurance and comfort of God’s company and companionship for eternity. Through His blood that paid for our sins and satisfied God’s wrath against us, Jesus has restored our relationship with God. The reason for our loneliness is not our being alone any more than the solution for loneliness is to be surrounded by tons of people. Loneliness is distance from God. But, we are never alone. God is always with us. Loneliness is remedied by the peace that comes with closeness to our Lord and God who has come close to us. This peace of closeness is what Jesus promised and died to give us. Just before being crucified and abandoned by all who claimed to love Him, Jesus told His disciples, “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.” Jesus did not say this to shame His disciples or reject their love for Him, broken as it was. Jesus said this to His disciples so that after His victory over sin and death and ascension back to the Father, they wouldn’t need to rent a goldfish, but that they would instead remember His words about the Father’s presence with Him and believe that because of Christ’s death and resurrection that reconciled us back to God, they and all who believe in Jesus would have that same peace, comfort, and strength that He did even while suffering incredible loneliness on the cross. Jesus said to them in the next verse, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
It was the peace of closeness with God His Father that comforted Jesus and enabled Him to suffer faithfully and joyfully. It is that same peace of closeness with God that Christ has made available to us and that will relieve our loneliness and help us to endure until that beautiful day when the veil is removed and we are able to see, face to face, our Lord and God who resides so close within our hearts now.
Thanks for joining me for another daily devotional, and remember that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today, and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
