Many of us experience loneliness in this life. There are many different reasons and circumstances that cause loneliness. Some may be sick, others may be grieving the loss of a spouse or family member. In the middle of the pain, there sometimes comes a great sense of aloneness in our grief.

"Where is God when I am lonely?" is a question asked by many depressed people. It may not be actually articulated, but it is there deep down nonetheless. Of course the answer is, "Right beside you."

"Whether we feel it or not," writes Margaret Clarkson in Decision magazine, "we have His presence for our loneliness, His understanding for the human misunderstanding that ruthlessly assaults our quivering sensitivities, His unchanging and unchangeable purpose for the seeming hopelessness of our frustration and apparent uselessness. . . . Our very infirmities can open up our lives to more of the power of Christ."

Scripture abounds in promises, divine undertakings that await our appropriation. There is no conceivable situation for which there is no appropriate promise. Be alert as you read the Bible to discover what God has promised to do and then lay hold of it. Say to the Lord, "Do as You have said." Promises must be claimed by faith. It was by faith the patriarchs received the promises. Abraham had an abounding confidence in his God. He was "fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised" (Rom. 4:21).

The validity of a promise depends upon the character and resources of the one who makes it. God's holy character and boundless resources make His promises credible.

"Every promise is a writing of God," said Charles Spurgeon, "which may be pleaded before Him with the reasonable request, 'Do as Thou hast said.' The Creator will not cheat the creature who depends upon His truth, and far more, the heavenly Father will not break His word to His own child."

God's promises are bound up with His character and rest on four of His attributes.

His truth, which renders lying impossible.

His omniscience, which makes His being deceived or mistaken impossible.

His immutability, which renders change or vacillation impossible.

His omnipotence, which makes anything possible.

So, when we come to God with one of His promises, we can do so with the utmost confidence, for "He who promised is faithful." If there seems to be a gap between God's promises and our experience of their fulfillment, it is because we have not committed ourselves to claim them.

John Bunyan quaintly described his experience in endeavoring to appropriate one of the promises: "Satan would labor to pull the promise away from me, telling me that Christ did not mean me in John 6:37. He pulled and I pulled. But, God be praised, I got the better of him." Bunyan has not been alone in this representative experience.