My father is with me

You will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. — John 16:32

A friend struggling with loneliness posted these words on her Facebook page: “It’s not that I feel alone because I have no friends. I have lots of friends. I know that I have people who can hold me and reassure me and talk to me and care for me and think of me. But they can’t be with me all the time — for all time.”

Jesus understands that kind of loneliness. I imagine that during His earthly ministry He saw loneliness in the eyes of lepers and heard it in the voices of the blind. But above all, He must have experienced it when His close friends deserted Him (Mark 14:50).

However, as He foretold the disciples’ desertion, He also confessed His unshaken confidence in His Father’s presence. He said to His disciples: “You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me” (John 16:32). Shortly after Jesus said these words, He took up the cross for us. He made it possible for you and me to have a restored relationship with God and to be a member of His family.

Being humans, we will all experience times of loneliness. But Jesus helps us understand that we always have the presence of the Father with us. God is omnipresent and eternal. Only He can be with us all the time, for all time. — Poh Fang Chia

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your promise that You will never leave me or forsake me. When I feel lonely, help me to remember You are always with me.

READ: Mark 14:32-50

If you know Jesus, you’ll never walk alone.

Bible in a Year:

2 Chronicles 21–22 and John 14