First Monday in Lent 2019

I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places. Psalm 102:6

In afflictions, the feeling of being alone is normal. Afflictions seem like waste places, a wilderness. If you have ever driven through long stretches of flat land with no end in sight or a desert, the feeling especially if driving alone is sometimes overwhelming.

This is where afflictions can lead us, to feeling alone.

The issue is do we stay there, alone, in the wilderness?

Or, through these lonely times, do we seek God in prayer?

Do we seek the help of His Church, our fellow Christians?

As Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 states, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!”

The prayers and cries we utter to God should lead us to seek help in fellow Christians to pray with us, to pray for us. As Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.”

Prayer

O LORD, help me in my time of loneliness. Bring me closer to you in these times. Draw me to rely solely upon you. Help me to seek help in your name from your people. In Christ’s Name. Amen.