Suffering feels lonely, doesn’t it? So much suffering causes physical isolation, surviving away from others. How I’m praying for those who are widowed, sick, orphaned, and isolated right now. The list is lengthening daily.
Even when people are physically near, we can feel emotionally alone, right? If you’re anything like me, you don’t want to burden others with true feelings in our experiences of suffering, but that’s even more lonely. Who else could ever completely understand our personal suffering with total empathy?
Only One.
Beloved in Christ, our dear Savior and Friend perfectly understands this pain. He knows our inmost thoughts and He loves us. He is never burdened by us when we come to Him. Lately, Jesus has reminded me that He prayed for us to live with Him forever, in His presence, to see His glory for all eternity. He prayed for you and me before He spent His agonizing lonely in Gethsemane and utter abandonment on the cross. Have you read John 17 lately? It has been a balm to me.
Our Emmanuel, God with us, understands our loneliness and He lives in you and me today as His true children (Gal. 2:20), until the end of the age (Mt. 28:20). He is calling us by name (Jn. 10:3).
Could we respond to His name, as He reminds us of His unchanging character, revealed in His names? Could we sing the names of Jesus into our loneliness and, in the singing, remember we are not alone?
I pray this praise interruption brings you deepened comfort and simultaneous joy as you praise the name of Jesus in this lonely time. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds.
Singing the name of Jesus into loneliness
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer’s ear!
It soothes our sorrows, heals our wounds,
and drives away our fear.
(“How sweet the name of Jesus sounds,” Newton, J., 1779)
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit (Ps. 34:18).
I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears (Ps. 34:4).
Jesus, Your name reminds me that You are God’s gift of all that I need
It makes the wounded spirit whole,
and calms the troubled breast;
’tis manna to the hungry soul,
and to the weary, rest.
Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven” (Jn. 6:31-32).
Jesus, Your names remind me of Your gospel of grace at work in my life
Jesus, my Shepherd, Brother, Friend,
my Prophet, Priest, and King,
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession (Heb. 4:14).
But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom” (Heb. 1:8).
my Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
accept the praise I bring.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6).
Jesus, I praise Your name today, looking forward to seeing You, with assurance and hope
Weak is the effort of my heart,
how cold my warmest thought;
but when I see Thee as Thou art,
I’ll praise Thee as I ought.
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is (I John 3:2).
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:7-8).
Singing the name of Jesus into loneliness, every day
Till then I would Thy love proclaim
with every fleeting breath;
and may the music of Thy name
refresh my soul in death.
Jesus, please help me to sing Your name into loneliness of my suffering today, trusting Your justifying, sanctifying, and glorifying love for me (Eph. 1). By Your grace, please sustain me as I praise Your name today, the One who is always with me in suffering on earth, but Who is also
In Your mighty name, my beloved Savior and abiding Emmanuel, amen.
*****
Beloved in Christ, I’m walking with you in this journey of personal worship through Scripture and song. This fellow sufferer is praying for you and hoping that this writing will encourage you in today’s loneliness of suffering.
I’ve put together a YouTube playlist of songs for us to use in singing praise to Jesus with His various names revealed to us in Scripture, literally…the “music of Your name!” I am praying that singing His names refreshes our souls this week, as we rely on His sustaining manna, His amazing grace given to us to walk through each day. If it might encourage you to receive my weekly Tuesday evening playlists, sign up here and may He bless you richly as you proclaim His name.
2 Comments
Nancy Snell · January 27, 2021 at 6:39 pm
These praise interruptions are exactly what I need each and every day!! Thank you!!
Lauri Hogle · January 28, 2021 at 7:53 pm
You are so welcome, Nancy! Isn’t our Father amazing to give us such good gifts of His Word and songs? May His glorious name be praised! 🙌🏼❤️🙏🏼
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