“Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.”
The Loneliness
This closes the first movement of this book with a comprehensive, honest naming, worth holding as this movement’s own culminating acknowledgment, put away, made an abomination, shut up, worth recognizing this same, comprehensive isolation if it has genuinely characterized your own current season.
This closes the loop this whole first movement has traced. Not good to be alone, desolate and afflicted, no man cared for my soul, all men forsook me, sparrow alone upon the housetop, kinsfolk failed, called Mara, all forsook Christ himself, the city sitting solitary, and now, this comprehensive shut up.
Notice I cannot come forth, worth holding as honest acknowledgment of genuine, felt powerlessness, not merely isolated but unable, currently, to actually change this described condition, worth recognizing this same, honest powerlessness if it has characterized your own current, genuine experience.
As this movement closes, receive this whole first movement’s honest naming as necessary, not despair, but genuine foundation for this book’s second movement, where the actual, theological reality of adoption into God’s own family, not merely managed loneliness, will become this book’s genuine focus.
Live As Family
- Consider what this whole first movement’s honest naming has actually clarified about your own isolation.
- Name honestly any felt powerlessness alongside this loneliness, I cannot come forth.
- Carry this whole first movement’s honesty forward into this week’s exploration of genuine adoption.
Prayer
Lord, I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. I have named this honestly. Let this become the foundation for genuinely understanding your own adoption of me now. Amen.
Carry this today
Comprehensive, honest naming of isolation is necessary foundation, not something to despair over.