One of the subtle but most effective weapons of the enemy is the weapon of loneliness. Its not so much a weapon that the devil throws at us, but a condition of forgetfulness in our mind that he cultivates in us. If the devil can get us to think we’re alone, we will fall to the negative reactions that abandonment brings. When spiritual and emotional abuse is applied from a leader to servant that serves under them, making the abused feel alone and isolated is primary tactic. Combating the spiritual weapon of loneliness is an exercise in retuning our perspective to Heaven’s view, instead of the narrative of the one of who wounded us.

 

You’re Not Alone.

This goes without saying. However, the issue is always the battle between what we know theologically, and what we actually believe, and how we act that out. We know in our mind that the Lord is always with us with. There are many ways that God shows us His eternal faithfulness to us. The first, is His word. It has the power to give us hope against the weapon of loneliness, Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. (Psalm 119:49 NIV84). Need a reminder that God is with you just like He was with others who felt lonely? Look no further than heroes of the word of God, who were just people like you and me who happened to live during those days. The second way God shows us that He is with us is by His manifest presence. This is where the Holy Spirit fills us with a sense of direction as we joyfully commune with the Lord, You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Psalm 16:11 NIV84). If all we had was the Lord, His word, and His presence, that’s all we need to live a life fulfilled in Him, despite the pain of betrayal by a leader we serve(d). That statement has finality to it - all we need is the love of the Father, through the Son Jesus, empowered in love by the Holy Spirit.

 

You’ve got a friend in me…

However, with God there’s always more. In the family of God, we always have friends. They may not be the friends we wanted, or the ones that we thought would be friends, but God has given us friends if we’re open to it. They’re there, either they are there and quiet, or you’ve yet to meet them in a new season, but if you seek out and look for them, you are not alone. It’s that nagging thought that we are alone (and that no one else has experienced what we have) on a human level that the devil wants to twist into our though life like a knife. That you are the only one to be this wounded, this forsaken, this faithful when others have surrendered their faith is the lie you must reject. Elijah, after a great victory against the enemies of the Lord on the mountain top, ran away when official opposition rose against him. He found himself miles away from where he should have been, exhausted, discouraged, wounded and left thinking that he was the only one left in all of Israel that was faithful to the Lord, He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” (1 Kings 19:14 NIV84). The abuse and conflict had caused Elijah to forget that he actually had friends, who were as faithful to the Lord as he was, all we need to do is turn back a chapter.

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So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria, and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of his palace. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the LORD. While Jezebel was killing off the LORD’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) Ahab had said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.” So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another. As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” “Yes,” he replied. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’ (1 King 18:2-8 NIV84).

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We don’t know a whole lot about this particular Obediah (not Obediah the minor prophet), other than he was a devout believer in the Lord, that he was righteous, and that he hid a hundred prophets of the Lord while serving in the wicked and abusive courts of king ahab. He was a friend and ally of Elijah who recognized the vital ministry of Elijah, and was essentially the one who setup the victorious contest between Elijah the servant of God against the deplorable false prophets of baal under the abusive leadership of king ahab and jezebel. Elijah wasn’t alone, not only did he have a friend and ally in Obediah, there were a hundred other believers who had the same mantle of ministry that he did. Eventually Elijah would come back and anoint other kings to lead Israel, and pass on his mantle to his prophetic protégé, Elisha.

 

Beating the Season of Loneliness.

Breaking under seasons look different for every servant leader. Some of you are local lay leaders and volunteers supported by plenty of family, friends and other leaders. You aren’t alone as you process the wounding caused by serving a senior leader in the church. Others of you are staff or are now in your current community for work, hundreds of miles away from family and life long friends. Wounding under these circumstances is more difficult road, because it’s easier for your mind to fall into that the false narrative that you are completely alone. That both God and friends have abandoned you. Two things I want to encourage you with. The first is easy to say, but harder to believe – God is with you. He has still called you, He has still gifted you, He hasn’t lost track of you. Most importantly, His love for you is not filtered through the false accusations, failures, and spiritual and emotional abuse of the leader who wounded you. The second is, like Elijah, you have friends in the Lord out there. Like Elijah, they may be in a cave somewhere metaphorically, but like Obadiah, they think you are worth being friends with, and believe in what you carry on your life from the Lord. Many honor you for who you are, and your faithfulness to the Lord. Don’t fall into the lie that you are alone.