It is a sad thing when we see Christians all too comfortable in the world we live in. Such a comment is corroborated by simply observing their pursuits, listening to the focus of their conversations and watching their behaviour in general. I am conscious that such a writing is not going to be liked by the reader and there could be the immediate unspoken retort, “Judge not.” Yet to him who is willing to examine himself before Yahweh, I write as a fellow brother and sojourner—who is constantly running before the throne of mercy and grace to find help—be on your guard.
The Bible has explicitly stated that we have been chosen or elected by Yahweh to be a holy or a separated people. Our Lord and Saviour Yeshua has made it plain that the price of being His true disciple is costly. He spoke of two masters and asked to choose wisely. He warned that the way to life is narrow and few find it. James wrote, without mincing words, that friendship with the world is enmity with Yahweh. He went so far to call such persons, “adulteresses”. Our Messiah said, “Be on guard that your hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth” (Luke 21:34, 35).
More specifically however, my purpose of circulating this writing is to encourage the single-minded, devoted child of Yahweh who is truly living the life of a sojourner, “You are not alone.” Yahweh has a remnant. So instead of writing with my own words, I have chosen instead to provide extracts of A. W. Tozer, a man who the sincere Christian will immediately identify with.
Remember the Sabbath rest that is waiting for you. For in just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay. What our Father in heaven is looking for is faith and patience that holds fast with steadfastness until the end.
Abraham was a man of faith—a godly man. He was also a lonely man. We see a revealing word picture of Abraham in Genesis 14 after he had given his nephew, Lot, the choice of the well-watered Jordan plain.
Many of the local tribes were in constant warfare. Ultimately Lot and his family were captured and taken from Sodom where they lived. One man who had escaped during the conflict went to Abraham, the Hebrew, to ask for help. This is the first time the word Hebrew appears in the Bible. Scholars are in agreement that the word meant “stranger” or “alien.” Perhaps it was used of Abraham because he had left Ur of the Chaldees and had gone into Canaan at God’s direction. Abraham was a Hebrew, a stranger, an alien.
Living in faith, living for God, he stood alone. He did not mix with the people around him. He was separated because he was God’s man. He had met God. He had heard the voice of God. God had assured him of his future. He was Abraham, the Hebrew. A stranger, yes, and lonely.
Now, let me transfer this to our times and our status. The sense of not belonging is a very real part of our Christian heritage. It is easily possible that the loneliest person in the world is a Christian—given the right circumstances.
Place a believing, practicing Christian boy suddenly into the arena of an army training camp where there is no other Christian, and he is absolutely a stranger, the loneliest person in the world. The medical men and the other officers will say, “Just let him get adjusted.” They always feel that the lonely person has a complex, is headed for a nervous breakdown.
But the Christian already has his values sorted out. He knows that he is a stranger. He understands why he is lonely in the midst of thousands of people around him. We know what it means to have made our choice and to know that our Lord is our very best friend.
We also know that when we break into tears from time to time, it is not a sign of weakness. It is the sense of the normal loneliness of a committed Christian in the middle of a world that rejected our Lord and now would disown us, His disciples.
Is there an encouraging word? Yes, there is a gracious word for you, fellow believer in the faith.
Being lonely in this world will only drive you to a closer communion with the God who has promised never to leave you or forsake you. He is altogether good and He is faithful. He will never break His covenant or alter that which has gone from His mouth. He has promised to keep you as the apple of His eye. He has promised to watch over you as a mother watches over her child.
In another place he wrote:
The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorptions in the love of Christ; and because with his circle of friends there are few who share his inner experiences, he's forced to walk alone. The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord himself suffered in the same way.
...Build that invisible altar within. Let the Spirit of God produce the living, cleansing flame that marks your devotion to Christ, our Lord.
The above italicized, indented texts are extracts from the writings of Dr. A. W. Tozer
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