Given the fact that none of us are immune to those times and experiences wherein emotional strengths and resources become challenged, it should also be noted that there are occasions in which God provides others as the means to renewing one's faith and courage. From his own experience Paul knew the blessing and benefit of such.
Thus, for example: Following years of trials, tests and persecution - indeed, having suffered "the loss of all things for Christ's sake (Phil. 3:8) - and now a prisoner bound for Rome to stand trial for his life, logic would itself anticipate the likelihood of discouragement. At this point, Luke recounts, "the brethren, when they heard about us came from as far as the Market of Appius and the Three Inns to meet us; and when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage" (Acts 18:15).
Again, with referrence to another time of anxiety, the apostle wrote: "I was under all kinds of stress...quarrels with others and fears within myself. But God, who gives heart to those who are low in spirit, gave me strength with the arrival of Titus. This he did," Paul continued, "not only by his arrival but," in a perpetuation of spiritual dynamic,
The foregoing principle is further illustrated in the life of Christ himself. For while commonly recognizing his humanity in terms of hunger, thirst, emotional response, etc., we have sometimes overlooked his sense of need and dependence in relation to the Twelve. Within this context, our Lord's repeated appeals for prayer and watchfulness in the Garden extended beyond the fact that Peter might otherwise succumb to temptation (Matt. 26:41). As evidenced in his earlier acknowledgement that, "You are those who have stood by me in my trials" (Luke 22:28), our Lord's entreaties at this juncture reflected, first of all, his need for their moral and spiritual support.
The point is this: As believers we shall increasingly need the support of one another as time progresses toward "that day." Given such, we find little with which to disagree in the following (albeit not original) suggestion that, "The day of the spiritual Lone Ranger is essentially over."
Burl Ratzsch
