Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…

“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone…’”
Genesis 2:18a (ESV)

“He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.”
Psalm 40:2 (NLT)

“There are friends who pretend to be friends, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
Proverbs 18:24 (RSV)

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
John 15:13 (NKJV)

“Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my victorious right hand….”
Isaiah 41:10 (TLB)

This past month during our Impact for Living Tuesday devotional call-ins, we have been looking at those friends in our lives we can count on in the battles of life.  

Friends who will go to war with us. Friends who always have our backs, and our best interest foremost in their hearts—even before theirs.

We can probably count the number of them in the palm of our hand. And those we thought were, when the battles rage, we find out they weren’t.  

We call them “foxhole friends.” Arising from a military term for those foxholes which were dug in the ground in the midst of a battle during war, to provide cover and protection for soldiers.  

Foxholes dug big enough for 2, 3, maybe even 4 soldiers. Big enough so that if several soldiers were in it, they could look out for each other, watch each other’s back from the different directions the enemy or enemy gunfire was coming.

Foxhole friends assure us we will never be alone.   

Standing with us. Holding our hand. Never alone. Being the example of our ultimate foxhole friend—Jesus. Standing there, holding our hand.

Being alone. It’s real. And it’s one of the toughest places to be.  

Standing alone. 

School-age children feel it. The homeless live it. Those suffering from mental illness, anxiety, depression struggle to find hope in a world which still does not accept the responsibility to stand with them in their moments of need. The elderly don’t know where to turn. The left out live in darkness. A loved one is lost, and now you are.  

Alone. Needing a hand. Needing a friend to stand with them.  

Thomas Mosie Lister wrote a poignant song “Where No One Stands Alone” reminding us that in the midst of those too-many moments of aloneness we all experience, God stands with us, but also calls us, and expects us to stand with those everywhere, so that no one stands alone—

“Once I stood in the night, with my head bowed low,
In the darkness as black as could be.
And my heart felt alone and I cried, ‘Oh Lord
Don’t hide your face from me.’
Hold my hand all the way, every hour, every day,
From here to the great unknown.
Take my hand, let me stand,
Where no-one stands alone.
Like a king, I may live in a palace so tall,
With great riches to call my own.
But I don’t know a thing, in this whole wide world,
That’s worse than being alone. 
Hold my hand all the way, every hour, every day,
From here to the great unknown.
Take my hand, let me stand,
Where no-one stands alone.
Take my hand, let me stand,
Where no-one stands alone.”

So many in the world need someone to stand with them.

To hold their hand.  

So no one is ever alone.  

God’s call is clear, as He stands and takes our hand, we are to go, stand and take the hand of others, everywhere.

All the way through today and into eternity with God “where no one stands alone.”

In His Name–Scott

Get ready to be truly blessed and called, as you listen to the Gaither Vocal Band sing “Where No One Stands Alone.”