My friend since primary school days has to be rushed to hospital early in the morning. He is caught fast in the chains of Covid. His lungs are raw from all the coughing. His oxygen count drops drastically, while his sugar count is off the charts. His chest is tight and he struggles to breathe.

This is the typical effect of Covid. It settles in your chest and takes you over. Like a giant that is simply too huge to take on. You feel so powerless. You feel as if you’re struggling alone and in the back of your mind, you know that you won’t make it on your own.

You’re consumed by fear and you wonder whether you’ll make it. Will you see your loved ones again or is this the end of the road?

I think when you’re on your own, it’s even more frightening. When you have to fight the attacks on your own, where will you find hope?

Fortunately, I know that my pal doesn’t have to tackle this fight on his own. In addition to the health workers caring for him so well, he has another major advantage: ⁵… God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,” …

God repeated this promise to His people again and again. God said to Joshua that He would be with Him the same as He had been with Moses. He would not leave him. He would not drop him. Even David held onto the promise that he would not have to reign alone every day.

There in the hospital, where my pal was fighting, he was not doing it alone. Yes, it does sometimes feel as if the disease or the challenge you are facing is simply too big and that we are too weak to get up. Sometimes we feel so weak that we simply cannot continue fighting. God has a promise for times like those too: “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

What wonderful peace of mind this promises my friend, his loved ones, everybody, that it does not depend on him alone to fight the disease. God helps. God is there to hold his hand and to give him strength.

God does not leave us alone to look after ourselves, because we are too weak to do it alone. God does not leave us alone to fight the devil on our own, because God knows his evil plans and, anyway, Jesus already overcame him on the cross. Even more so, God does not leave us alone in the world with all its enjoyable temptations, because God knows our weak points and knows where we will slip and fall.

Even those whose due date has come, do not need to walk through that scary death alone. Jesus has overcome death too and knows about it. God and Jesus together will not let you go.

This makes it easier for us standing beside my pal’s bed, and all of us can say: “Pal, you’re not alone. We’re here to entrust you to our heavenly Father and we know with everything in us that He is with you and will not drop you!”

Scripture
Hebrews 13:1-8

Reflection
Do you sometimes feel alone?
Do you believe that God is with you?
Do you live like that?

Prayer
Father, I must confess that I feel so alone sometimes and don’t know how to keep going. It’s good to hear that You will never leave me. Please help me to believe and live it. In Jesus’ Name, amen.