There are few things more pitiable than what we call “a disappointed man.” He is always finding fault with others. He has never discovered the real root of the matter or the true secret of dealing with it. He is isolated, but his isolation is utterly false. He is miserable; and he will make all who are weak and foolish enough to listen to him as miserable as himself.

How truly delightful and refreshing to turn from this dismal picture to the only perfect Man who ever trod this earth! His path was indeed an isolated one, none more so. He had no sympathy with the scene around Him. “The world did not know Him.” “He came to His own [Israel], and His own did not receive Him.” “[He] looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but [He] found none.” Even His own beloved disciples failed to sympathize with or understand Him. They slept on the mount of transfiguration in the presence of His glory, and they slept in the Garden of Gethsemane in the presence of His agony. They roused Him out of His sleep with their unbelieving fears and were continually intruding upon Him with their ignorant questions and foolish notions.

How did He meet all this? In perfect grace, patience, and tenderness. He answered their questions; He corrected their notions; He hushed their fears; He solved their difficulties; He met their need; He made allowance for their infirmities; He gave them credit for devotedness in the moment of desertion; He looked at them through His own loving eyes and loved them, notwithstanding all: “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”

Let us seek to drink in our blessed Master’s spirit and walk in His footsteps. Then our isolation will be of the right kind, and though the path may be narrow, the heart will be large.