Psalm 25:16
Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
Psalm 68:5-6
5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
6 God sets the lonely in families,
he leads forth the prisoners with singing;
My heart goes out to lonely people. It’s ironic that we live on a planet of 6 billion plus individuals and can feel so isolated and cut off. It’s strange that we can have 1500 “friends” on facebook and all we really share with them is pictures of our food.
I think it is significant that the first thing God said was not good was loneliness—“It is not good for man to be alone”. I recall a time in my life when loneliness was crippling. I was a young man in his early 20s and had just moved to Houston, Texas (population 2.75 million) and I didn’t know a soul. At the time I wasn’t very good at making new friends. It took several months before I developed a circle of friends and didn’t feel as disconnected.
It is not good for man to be alone because he gets into all kinds of trouble trying to soothe his loneliness in unhealthy ways. I suspect that a lot of drug and alcohol abuse, sexual promiscuity, gaming addiction, etc. has its roots in loneliness. It is in times of loneliness that we become an easy target for the enemy.
So what do you do if you struggle with loneliness? It’s not an easy fix, but here are a few tips.
1. Ask God for help, comfort and peace. It was when I was alone that Christ became real as a Friend.
2. Attend worship and volunteer for something. This is no time to be sleeping in on Sunday morning.
3. Join a community group (or four).
4. Eat well and get plenty of exercise and sleep. This can keep you from slipping into full blown depression.
5. Pursue group hobbies—bowling leagues, softball team, cycling group, etc.
And a word of encouragement to those of us who are not lonely—reach out to those who may be struggling with isolation. Perhaps yours is the family in which God is placing them.
Brian
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