Tag: wildlife

Alone!

Neal Pollard

Kathy and I very recently discovered an interesting show produced by the History Channel, and the title of the series is “Alone.” It is a “reality show” (not usually a fan of those), but it involves survival experts dropped, alone, in the middle of nowhere. They get to take ten items of their choice to help them battle predators, the elements, and, most of all, isolation. Food, water, shelter, and fire top their priorities, but even having these cannot prevent the maddening monotony of being deprived of human companionship.

I love the way Solomon says it in the book of Ecclesiastes. “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken” (4:9-12, NLT, emph. mine). At the very beginning, God made it clear that it isn’t good for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18). Alone one is in trouble, in the cold, and in danger. It is not good for us.

The survivalists on the show figure that out. So does the person, even with people all around them, who keep themselves in isolation. Think of all the ways God combats our loneliness.

  • He gives us marriage (Gen. 2:18; 1 Cor. 11:9).
  • He gives us children (Psa. 127:3-5).
  • He gives us the church (Eph. 2:19).
  • He gives us the assemblies (Heb. 10:24-25).
  • He gives us fellowship (Acts 2:42).
  • He gives us hospitality (Rom. 12:10,13).
  • He gives us counselors and mentors (Prov. 15:22; 24:6; Ti. 2:3-4).
  • He gives us the aged (Lev. 19:32; 1 Tim. 5:1).
  • He gives us shepherds (Acts 20:28).

Life is difficult for the person determined to go it alone! We are left with our thoughts, which may or may not be accurate reflections of reality or at least the whole picture (Prov. 18:17). We are deprived of the very resources God has given to help us successfully overcome life’s challenges. It is an easy habit to get into to withdraw from the company of others, but it is not healthy! We need others, and, just as much, they need us!

The guys on the reality show voluntarily go it alone for money and notoriety, but, even with that incentive, the loneliness gets unbearable. For us, the prize and reward does not require us to cloister ourselves. It requires the opposite! May we never choose to be alone, when we have so many tools supplied by God to survive the challenges of this life.

A Tangled Mess!

Neal Pollard

Late in 2010, Jason Good was surveying timber in Meigs County, Ohio, when he came upon a bizarre sight. Three huge whitetail deer were dead, floating in a creek with their antlers locked. It was an 11-pointer, a 10-pointer, and an 8-pointer. The landowner, Brien Burke, figured that two of them were fighting when the third came in on the opposite side. Then all three were so tightly locked together that they could not pull loose (Field & Stream, Steven Hill, 12/5/10, online ed.). How sad that three beautiful, majestic creatures got themselves tangled up so much in a fight that they fell into a creek and drowned. Fighting brought these deer to a tragic end.

The same thing can happen in our human relationships. James writes, “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (3:13-18).

Wise, understanding people prove such through gentle wisdom. The opposite have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in their hearts. James says that where this is, there is disorder and every evil thing. How often do we forfeit peace and gentleness due to a large dose of selfish ambition? We tangle with others and hurt them and often hurt ourselves. At its worst, we can inflict spiritual death. When that happens, we are in just as much trouble. What we need in our relationships with others is the wisdom from above, described in James 3:17. But we must sow peace to reap the fruit of it. Let’s be at peace with men and God!

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