Jesus promised he would never abandon us

Many popular songs deal with loneliness: “Are You Lonesome Tonight” by Elvis Presley, Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and the old spiritual “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” to name a few.

All of us have felt lonely or abandoned at times. We have a deep hunger inside us to have someone who understands us, who is an intimate part of our lives and will never leave us.

The problem is that people keep leaving us, abandoning us. Jesus promised us in John 14, “I will not leave you orphaned.”

Rick is a middle-aged Christian man who is a leader in his congregation. He’s a loving person, but he had lived with the pain of loneliness until a few years ago. Rick has accepted Christ, and he knows his past sins of adultery and other behaviors caused by his alcoholism are forgiven.

Until a few years ago, Rick always lived with the fear that anyone he got close to would leave him. His mother died when he was five. His father was home, but was emotionally absent because of alcohol. Then at 18, his only brother died. His first marriage ended after 10 years, with his wife leaving him for another man.

All his life, individuals have abandoned him, and the pain of that abandonment has made him fearful of getting really close to anyone again. That was until he was in church and heard the words from John’s gospel: “I will never leave you. I am sending you another advocate to walk with you, live inside you, and be your counselor, and your helper.” (John 14:15-21)

After the service, Rick asked his pastor if they could talk. As they did, Rick sobbed, “I want to believe this with all my heart but I’m scared it’s just going to be another broken promise.” The pastor, a compassionate man, prayed that Rick would open his heart to Christ. Rick said it was like door after door was being opened in his memories. The love of Christ then flowed into those dark memories and painful empty places left there by those who had abandoned him.

A 95-year-old saintly lady went through the loss of two husbands, was robbed, her house burned down and she lost her three children. Yet she could say, “Through it all, I have never been abandoned, I have never been alone, I have never been without God’s peace.” This is her morning prayer that you might want to make your own.

“Good morning, Jesus! I am alive today because it is your will and you have given me breath and life for another day. I thank you for that gift in my physical body and whatever degree of strength and health with which you have blessed me.

“Yet, more importantly, I thank you this morning because you have given me yourself as your Spirit who dwells within me every moment of every day. You guide me, You teach me, You comfort me, You provide for me, You strengthen me for whatever I may face today.

“If I succeed in some small way in what I attempt today, You are there in the midst of my success and I give you glory. If I fail in what I attempt today, you are there in the midst of my failure, and I lean on you for strength and a wise and understanding heart.

“What is most important, there will be no time today that I am alone, even if no one else knows what I’m going through, for you have promised never to leave me, and you have given me Your Spirit as your guarantee of things to come. I love you, Lord. Thank you for your Spirit. Amen.”