Isolation often seems to accompany tragedy. When our world gets turned upside down and the horror of the immediate assaults us, it is nearly impossible to find sure footing and even more difficult feel the dependable buttress offered by sympathetic friends and family. Our pain is so severe that we feel no one else can really identify or understand the depth of our heartache.
We live in a society that salutes those who can shake it off and extols the brave who can play through the pain. After all, no one likes a “Debbie Downer”.
This has been a devastating week for so many. Memphis is mourning the loss of 3 teenagers whose lives were taken way too soon. The tears in Texas mirror the floods that have triggered them. Friends and family are suffering through illness. Crime is on the rise… poverty too. Relationships seem busted beyond repair and hope feels thin. The pain is real and reality is tragic. Even though we see that people are suffering everywhere, it is easy to feel all alone in our pain. Wise and well-meaning people will tell us to pray about it and to remember that God is with us, and that is true and good advice, but sometimes we need more. We crave the physical sensation of a hug or emotional buffer of a good listener. We need people in our camp that we can cry with and vent to. We are social creatures who covet relationships.
An Old Testament hero who understood pain and rejection and isolation better than most was David. David was anointed to be the next King of Israel, but the current King Saul hated him. David had only ever served and honored Saul, but Saul hated David. Saul believed and spread lies about David and He made it his mission to kill David. David had to flee for his life and hide in caves just to survive. He felt completely alone and isolated. While he was in the cave, feeling overwhelmed and desperate, he wrote this beautiful hymn:
“I cry out to the Lord;
I plead for the Lord’s mercy.
I pour out my complaints before him
And tell him all my troubles.
When I am overwhelmed,
You alone know the way I should turn.
Wherever I go,
My enemies have set traps for me.
I look for someone to come and help me,
But no one gives me a passing thought!
No one will help me;
No one cares a bit what happens to me.
Then I pray to you, O Lord.
I say, “You are my place of refuge.
You are all I really want in life.
Hear my cry,
For I am very low.
Rescue me from my persecutors,
For they are too strong for me.
Bring me out of prison
So I can thank you.
The godly will crowd around me,
For you are good to me.” Psalm 142 (NLT)
David knew that God was the true one who could help him. God would avenge his enemies and God would never leave him. David knew whom to turn to and that is the most important, but as clearly as David could see the truth about God, he was missing the truth about his circumstances.
We know that David was not alone in the cave.
“So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. Soon his brothers and all his other relatives joined him there. 2 Then others began coming—men who were in trouble or in debt or who were just discontented—until David was the captain of about 400 men.” 1 Samuel 22:1-2 (NLT)
“Some brave and experienced warriors from the tribe of Gad also defected to David while he was at the stronghold in the wilderness.” 1 Chron 12:8 (NLT)
“Others from Benjamin and Judah came to David at the stronghold.” 1 Chron 12:16 (NLT)
David was surrounded by a support group who believed in him and loved him enough to suffer with him in the cave. The intensity of his pain and rejection blinded him from the reality of his environment.
When we are suffering, we feel all alone. God’s presence and help is all we need, but in His goodness, He surrounds us with human support.
Dear friends, I know you are hurting. God knows too. He loves you and He is always listening and always loving you. There is no wound He can’t heal. Run to Him, but also recognize that He has supplied bonus support from others with you in your midst. Rub the film of the isolation illusion from your eyes. There is a band of warriors in the cave with you.