Three Part Series
Originally given as the middle talk in a three-part series on Loneliness for New Hope Chapel, Arnold Maryland.
Part One
In Part One, Dr. Bill Smith gave a definition for loneliness that made a distinction between being alone and experiencing the emotion of loneliness. Loneliness involves being sad because of having no friends, no one to be with. Feeling isolated, cut off.
Going deeper, Dr. Smith added that sense of not being known, not having someone to share joys and sorrows with who would understand. Not feeling accepted for who you really are, there being no one to enjoy you, to experience community with, as God experiences community as Three-In-One.
Part One ends with a significant truth. Jesus experienced crushing loneliness as he bore our sins, and now having finished the work of redemption, Jesus is keenly attuned to you and me, and what we experience. Jesus, by his Spirit, is able to truly offer you and me ever-present comfort and companionship. Life changes can make us feel alone, and lonely, especially when we are without our community.
Part Two
In Part Two, a young girl finds herself unexpectedly cut off from family and friends, and from the only home she had ever known. As with COVID-19 conditions today, she had little choice in the matter. It was a plague raging through the palace that sparked the chain of events which—unbeknownst to her—would launch her into her destiny. But her lived experience, in the moment, was of friendlessness, isolation, and eventually profound rejection.
How could God possibly redeem such a story?
But God did.
We are going to see God rescuing a very lonely person who had reached the very end of herself, literally all lone, without friend or family, without resources, and finally, without hope.
Hagar
I Servant, Genesis 12:10-20
II Singled Out, Genesis 16
III Sent away, Genesis 21:8-21
[Title Plate | Dr. Bill Smith]
