Loneliness can be quite dreadful, and a growing number of people suffer from lonesomeness at an alarmable rate as the isolation brought about by Covid did much to add to the experience of loneliness for great number of people. Let us understand that loneliness is not normal. After God created man, He took note that it was not good that man was alone, so He made a helper for him.
Genesis 2:18 (ESV) — 18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
As man is made it the image of God, he is made to be in relationship just as the Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) are in fellowship with one another.
1 John 5:7 (NKJV) — 7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit: and these three are one.
Before Adam and Eve sinned, they enjoyed sweet fellowship with Go. But after they sinned, they hid themselves from God – signifying ripping themselves away from God thereby suffering loneliness from God Himself.
Genesis 3:8 (ESV) — 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Without fellowship with God, all attempts to conquer loneliness on any level is but a futile attempt because the root of the problem is not being addressed. In other words, when we are not right with God our relationships with others can never be what they are meant to be, and we are destined to be lonely.
Good news! God has not left us in our lonely state. He sent His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to take away our sin, to give us eternal life, a hope for a glorious future, and the power and instruction to live in fellowship with God and with the people in our lives.
2 Corinthians 5:18–19 (ESV) — 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Reconciliation is the message of peace between those who were at odds. Because of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be at peace with God and with others. Notice the example is how God being the offended, reaches out to us the offenders, through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ who made atonement for our sin. By His sacrifice on the cross He satisfied God’s wrath toward us thereby bringing us to God in peace. In fact, as God grants us faith to believe in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we experience a relationship of being justified, the result being peace with God; the relationship restored. No wonder we are instructed to call upon the Lord and to place our trust in Him as we will never be disappointed.
Romans 5:1–2 (ESV) — 1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
One major aspect of our loneliness is thereby relieved in the relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, but it’s even better. As our high priest, Jesus feels with our every hurt, including our loneliness. Stop and consider how He as your priest and source of your comfort truly empathizes with the sting of your loneliness: He came to His own kindred but was rejected. When on the night of great sorrow, His closest disciples could not stay awake to pray with Him. One of His disciples betrayed Him. Another denied that he ever knew Him. The rest of His disciples abandoned Him. When on the cross, He was stripped naked, and the soldiers gambled for His clothes. While on the cross the two thieves that were crucified on either side of Him detested Him. The people scoffed at Him. The Jewish leaders reviled Him. But the greatest sense of loneliness was in the time of darkness when Jesus alone took on the cup of God’s wrath that we deserved as He cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” That is what He experienced as loneliness! As you turn to Him and cast on Him your burden of loneliness, you know He is the one who feels with you and is “touched with the feeling of your infirmities” and He has promised that He will never leave you or forsake you.
Hebrews 4:14–15 (ESV) — 14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
1 Peter 5:7 (ESV) — 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Hebrews 13:5–6 (ESV) — 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
Proverbs 18:24 (NKJV) — 24 A man that has friends must shew himself friendly: And there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.
As Jesus is that friend that sticks closer than a brother, His admonition to us is to be a friend. By taking His advice and seeking to be a friend to those around us, we find that we are never lonely. We have purpose and that purpose is to help others.
Philippians 2:4 (ESV) — 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
People who live with the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ realize that the needs of others are important because they are important to the Lord Jesus Christ. In focusing upon your Friend and Savior and on the needs of others by being a friend, there is no room for loneliness
as you enjoy the presence, power, and encouragement of the Lord. Now that is the pathway to finding relief for the pain of loneliness.
Godspeed,
Bob Brubaker, Pastor
Christ Community Presbyterian Church
