Never Alone!

          I recall as a youngster that when I got lost or separated from my parents, I would have an almost instant panic attack. I always had to have them in my line of vision and I could go on doing what I was doing but I had to have that assurance that they were in the room. I have mentioned before about being left in our car while my Father went in to Sears to pay on a bill and the storm came up. That was one of the times I felt that I was alone. I never felt like running away from home and may have thought about it once or twice but was back to normal in abut thirty minutes or so. We used to call being left alone as “homesickness.” There were times when it was hard to break the apron strings of Mom like when I joined the U. S. Navy. I had been away from home before, but never in the circumstance of not being able to return home. My safety was then provided by a chief petty officer who was not very friendly and who kept reminding me about tying a square knot. Hebrews 13:5 says, “ Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'”

          Apron strings may be now broken for most of us and we find that as we grow older, we are the ones who provide comfort to others. There is however, that natural concern about our own loneliness. Who is going to comfort us? How are we going to get through the darkest night or during one of life's terrible storms? The animals have ways of protecting their young but Who is it that protects us? The answer is found in the verse for today. It is none other than God Himself. Psalm 91 reminds us of one fact that God is compared to a mother hen who protects her young bu hiding them under her wings. The mother cat will gather up her kittens by grabbing them by the scruff of their necks and keeping them nestled around her. The Psalmist used two different descriptions in Psalm 91, one of which was the wings over us and the second was the fortress. There can be no earthly fortress that can be compared to the fortress that God provides for each and every one of His children. The two illustrations seem to be so dramatically apart, one describing His protection as a soft wing over us and the other being a stone wall all around us. Both of them however, show us the protection of God and that we are never alone. That is the assurance that we need in this day and in every day. Romans 8:39-39 reminds us of just how secure that protection is. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Do you feel isolated today? Are you longing for a hug that is secure and tight? Then, look to the One Who has you in His arms each and every moment. Hebrews 13:5 has a lot in it but those last eight words are perhaps one of the most comforting that any believer can have no matter what the circumstances in which you find yourself. You can even be in an ICU at a hospital or in a small apartment or even out in the woods and there is still no place where God will not be with you. Praise God today for His keeping power. He is with us and holding on to each and everyone of us.