By: Denny

Genesis 2:18a – And the lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone.”

There is a reality show on TV that has caught our interest lately. It’s one of those wilderness survival shows with continuing episodes all season. It is simply called “Alone”. I guess it has been on for many years, so we are obviously watching reruns. The premise is that ten people, both men and women who have expert survival skills, volunteer to be placed individually in some remote location miles apart. Most of the locations are on or near the shores of a lake, river, or ocean, accessed only by boat or helicopter. None of them know where the others are, thus the title “Alone”. They each are allowed to take ten items of their choice (other than clothes and sleeping bag) The object or plot is to see who can last the longest and win the prize money. It varies from $500,000 to one season that awarded $1,000,000 to the person who lasted 100 days in the Canadian Northwest Arctic in the winter. They each are issued a satellite phone and a video camera which they are required to film themselves and comment on their progress. The phone is capable of only contacting the base in case of a physical injury or other emergency. It’s main use though is when they’ve had enough and want to be picked up. It is called “tapping out” and they are eliminated from the competition. Each person must use their skills to construct their shelter, provide food and water, gather wood for a fire, and use whatever natural resources that are available for their survival. Many times, they are having to deal with wild animals such as bears, wolves, cougars, foxes, and other critters who are competing for the same food source or want to eat them. Two people tapped out after the first night when they were threatened by bears. They aren’t allowed to take a gun, but almost all have a knife, an axe, and a few have taken a bow and arrows or fashioned their own. Some were fortunate to be located where there were plenty of fish, while others built primitive traps to catch small animals. In desperation they would catch and eat mice which was gross. There were plants to eat if you knew which ones were safe. Many times, they would go for days without anything to eat, and they all lost weight and became weaker as the days and weeks passed. Everyone commented that it was harder than they expected. Some kept going on shear will power hoping to win the big prize money. The energy required wore down their physical endurance to the point that simple tasks became difficult. The lack of a stable food source rich in protein caused many to tap out. A few were removed due to malnutrition and others tapped out for the same reason. Two guys lost their fire striker. A woman cut her hand badly while chopping wood and had to be airlifted to a hospital. A guy built a makeshift canoe which tipped over and he got hypothermia, and the same happened to another whose shelter got flooded. They all said that the mental and emotional stress of being alone without any human contact was the hardest thing and greatest challenge to overcome. Several tapped out because they couldn’t take being alone and away from loved ones any longer. In the beginning, the guy who came in second place was boastful, proud, and arrogant thinking he would win hands down. He had a short temper and was always swearing. At the end the video shows him having a total breakdown on his knees in deep sobbing praying and crying out to God. Even though he didn’t win the money, in my opinion he won a greater prize. God knows that it isn’t good for people to live their lives alone, but in this case, it caused the brokenness that turned him to God.

I once heard it said that God will take you the easiest way you’ll come. Though some come easier than others, He knows what it takes for you to become broken to the point you call out to Him. He specializes in taking broken lives and making them chosen vessels of honor to accomplish much for spreading the gospel and furthering the Kingdom of God. Jesus was quoting the prophesy of Isaiah 61:1-3 about himself when He proclaimed in Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Jesus told the Parable of the Soils found in Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8. In explaining the meaning of the parable privately to His disciples, He says the seed is the word of God and the four soils represent the condition of the hearts of those who hear it. All heard it, but only the seed that fell on good ground took root that produced lasting fruit for the Kingdom of God. In reading and understanding the parable and the explanation, my conclusion is that the good soil is the hearts of those who are truly broken in repentance before God. Over the years I’ve seen many people weeping in brokenness at the alter pouring themselves out and giving their lives in surrender to Jesus. Even more are those who’ve held back, not allowing their brokenness to be a pathway that could lead to healing and restoration, as they refused to turn to God. Call me old-fashioned or even nostalgic, but I long for the days when people would be at the alter on their knees weeping in brokenness until God touched them, then getting up totally changed. I don’t intend to be critical, but these days pastors, preachers, and evangelists make it too easy or at the least underemphasize the role that Holy Spirit conviction and brokenness plays in a person coming to Christ.

When Jesus was hanging on the cross, He was naked, beaten, whipped and bleeding from wounds that made Him almost unrecognizable. He was suffering a horrific death, ALONE, yet surrounded by people mocking Him. The sin of all humanity past, present, and future was placed on Him that day. Jesus felt alone as He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” There is no aloneness that can compare to being alone without God. In fact, that would be a good description of hell. They taunted Him by saying, “If you are the Son of God, save yourself and come off the cross.” Had He wanted to, He could’ve “tapped out” by summoning twelve legions of angels (Matthew 26:53), but what He was accomplishing for us far outweighed the suffering and embarrassment of the moment. Fast forward to 2022. Only God is the judge knowing the heart of those who are genuinely repentant. However, are we allowing Him to fully do the work He wants to if we’re more concerned whether people are embarrassed and comfortable in not wanting others to see them raise a hand. If they’re too embarrassed or aren’t allowed to stand before believers in a church service confessing and accepting Christ, will they stand for Him outside or tap out. Read the parable again, three out of four tapped out for various reasons. Accepting Jesus as your Savior is done in the heart, not in your intellect as a religious ritual. These types of alter calls rob the body of Christ in witnessing and experiencing the joy of seeing a sinner turn to Jesus, and the opportunity to identify and encourage them afterwards. That’s like a doctor who’s about to deliver a baby telling the attending father to close his eyes because the baby might be embarrassed. The Christian life is not meant to be experienced and lived alone but shared with everyone.

Jesus spoke about the believer’s need for endurance as did Paul in Hebrews 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. In addressing some issues going on in the church at Corinth, Paul finds himself having to defend himself as an apostle in 2 Corinthians 11. In so doing he begins reciting a whole litany of things he’s suffered as an apostle beginning at verse 23. Despite all that, he remained faithful to the gospel and his calling and didn’t tap out when the going got rough. He wrote in 2 Thessalonians chapter two about the falling away (tapping out) that would happen in the last days as many would leave the faith giving heed to false doctrines. We are living in times where there is so much opposition against Christians and you may be tempted to take the easy way and tap out rather than endure hardship, but hang in there, you are not “alone”. He will come and save you!