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This is the audio from the May 14, 2023 sermon, “Finding Help When You Feel Alone: A Time To CRY!”, shared by Tom Lemler at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

Text: Genesis 21:15-21, Matthew 15:21-28

Today I continued a sermon series about finding help in our times of need.  Last week we began by considering what it looks like to be lifted up by God when we’re afraid.  Today we focused on finding help when we feel alone.  Loneliness, rejection, and feeling left out are all experiences of life we have even though we would rather not.  The Bible is full of people who experienced feelings of being all alone just as we do.  Today we turn our focus toward two stories of mothers who found help from God when being alone brought them to despair in a time to cry out to God.  The good news for those who feel all alone is that when we turn to God we discover a time to . . .

• Consider your circumstances:  —

  • Before help was even considered, the cry of both Hagar and the Canaanite woman from our texts began with a consideration of the circumstances they found themselves in.  This is often the easy part of our time to cry because our feelings of being alone leave us ample time to ask all the questions of why.  Sometimes, however, we need to step back and consider our circumstances from a perspective other than our own.  Most people seem to have tendencies to either over estimate or under estimate their own responsibility for where they are at.  When we seek God’s help during the times we feel alone, it is important to consider our circumstances from His perspective.

• Reach out for help: —

  • It is through an examination of our circumstances from God’s perspective that we begin to realize we need help.  For a lot of different reasons, reaching out for help is difficult for many people.  Perhaps we’ve tried to find help before and it just never came.  Sometimes pride creeps in and keeps us from admitting we need help so we refuse to reach out.  Many times when we feel all alone, there are also feelings of abandonment and the feeling that no one cares so reaching out would be pointless.  When we seek God’s help during the times we feel alone, it is important to humble ourselves not only in order to reach out to Him, but to also reach out for help from those He has put around us.

• Yield to God:  —

  • Finding help when we feel alone not only requires that we consider our circumstances and have the courage to reach out for help, but it also requires that we yield to the One who can help.  When I think about yielding to God, I think about how the two mothers from our texts today took the response of God by faith and found the help they needed.  Many times we find ourselves in need of help but we are very specific about what that help must look like.  We want help but we want it our own way.  God’s design in responding to our cry for help often looks very different from the way we would think it ought to be and will invariably require an action of faith on our part.  When we seek God’s help during the times we feel alone, it is important to yield to Him so that we fully receive what He offers.

Today, when you feel alone, how will you CRY?