Please don’t leave me
Please don’t leave me
I always say how I don’t need you
But it’s always gonna to come right back to this
Please don’t leave me

These words are from the song “Please Don’t Leave Me” by the artist Pink. I heard it on the radio today, and it hit me in a way that I’m sure was accidental on her part.

Forget for a moment that this song is about a dysfunctional relationship (hence the punching bag reference in the lyrics). Just focus on the hook:

Please don’t leave me.

Who says this?

More importantly, who feels this? And deeper still, who feels it but doesn’t realize it?

Maybe it’s a child watching his parents fight.
Or a lonely high school kid losing his first girlfriend.
A wife who sees her husband coming home later and later each night.
A husband who fears his wife is unhappy with him.
An adult watching their parent slowly die.

Please, please don’t leave me.

We can surround ourselves with as much respect as money can buy. We can insure our cars, houses, and even our limbs. We can build so much independence that we rely on nobody for anything.

But, when we’re alone, when the voices of affirmation stop, and when we come face to face with our own emptiness, I believe the cry of our hearts is the same.

Please don’t leave me.

We fear being alone, being abandoned, of being orphaned in a world that accepts only those who belong to somebody.

The fear of being abandoned, forgotten, disregarded, and alone is rooted so deep in our subconscious that most of us are unaware of how much it affects our actions and thoughts every day.

This is by design. We were not created to be alone. We were created to live life in communion with our creator. Not simply to sit in his house once a week and pray, but to walk together as Adam did, through both work, play, worship, and rest.

Psalm 139:7 – Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

The presence of God is not an abstract thing. It is real, and it is the most healing, fulfilling experience that any of us can ever have on this earth.

When you give up on trying to be good enough to please Him, holy enough to please others, having the right words to say, or any of the other stuff we use as excuses to avoid Him……when you let go of all of it and just let Him hold you, the way a father holds his baby, in that moment His perfect, unrelenting, unwavering love hits you like a tidal wave.

The reality of that experience, and our avoidance of it is why we have those words in our heart, the words that cry out when we least expect:

Please don’t leave me.