This is a topic that’s been on my heart since the beginning of COVID-19. It is crucial now more than ever for the men in the church to be the men that God has intended us to be. Be the fighter when we need to be, be the loving brother when it’s needed, show mercy when it’s not deserved and show grace because He showed us grace.
As men, we tend to want to do things without God, friends, family, or anyone. This is pride, plain and simple. Humbleness is admitting you can not do it alone, and seeking wisdom or even physical help from others.
Is God more pleased with me if I do not ask for help? No. God has placed other men in my life and yours who have experienced possibly the same things you are facing, if not something similar.
What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 ESV
When Solomon refers to there being nothing new under the sun. He means the answer to your situation is somewhere, you just need to seek the Lord’s face.
In the book of 1st Samuel we read about the future King David’s time in the wilderness as he fled from King Saul who was seeking to kill him. Jonathan, Saul’s first born son, was the natural heir to the throne, next in line to be King of Israel. He had a vested interest in the outcome of Saul’s actions. Killing David would clear the eventual path to his own kingship. But we are told in chapter 23 and verse 16 that despite this Jonathan went to David and encouraged David that he would indeed be the next King of Israel despite his father’s murderous intentions. This is a huge testament to the humility of Jonathan.
We have a part to play in the lives of the men around us and in our community. We are to take notice and be aware of the circumstances we find our fellow man in. We are to forbear one another.
I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.
Col 2:1 NIV
This word: contending is translated in Greek to mean to physically fight, or wrestle for one another. Now this does not mean to get up and go fight someone who is causing grief in your brother’s house. But is a call to action, get up, go, seek a solution.
Doing this is how we defeat the giant of isolation from others and more importantly from God.
In the case of Saul and David, we see that Saul is proud, and David is humble. There was a point in time when David and His men were deep in a cave and Saul was hunting David to kill him. Saul went into this same cave and David in order to demonstrate to Saul that he could have killed him, sneaks up to Saul and cuts a corned off his robe. Instead of killing Saul, David went out of the cave and submitted to Saul as the Lord’s anointed.
James the brother of Jesus reminds us [Jas 4:6-8 ESV] that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
John Donne Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral 1624
As John Donne wrote in his famous poem of 1624: no man is an island. This echo’s God’s statement at the beginning of creation: “It is not good that man should be alone.” [Gen 2:18]
So let us seek the Lord and the help of friends when we question our situation or circumstances.