3 Truths About Loneliness from the Bible
3 Truths About Loneliness from the Bible
I’m fine. When people ask you how you are, you say FINE. You say it with a smile. The tears behind the Instagram filters should never show and are washed away in the shower each morning. You don’t say you’re lonely. You don’t say that you go home to a cat and spend hours not saying a word to anyone else.
You don’t say your kitchen table is covered with bills, clean clothes, and stacks of books. You don’t say you eat at the counter, standing on one foot rethinking the imaginary conversations you would have had today, if anyone had asked you about your life.
Only no one did. So things are FINE. But things are not fine. It is time we begin to see our loneliness as a way to lead us to the Lord. And it begins with the promise that God’s presence is enough. We might have to go through a season of loneliness, and then we can enjoy fellowship again.
Tweet ThisOr maybe our life will be categorized this way. Either way, God’s presence is enough for our weary hearts. The Bible is filled with people who experienced loneliness. It is a common, natural feeling to be lonely. What if loneliness lingers? What do we do then? The Bible is our answer, friend. It has what we need to soothe our suffering. If you are struggling with loneliness, I pray these words from God’s Word take a front row place in your heart and you can walk through this season with a trust in a God who loves you.
Here are 3 Truths About Loneliness from the Bible:
1. God’s Love Isn’t Based on Our Feelings.
As a child I often wondered if God really loved me. From an early age I knew I was a sinner. The weight of guilt followed me day after day. In high school I remember reading this verse with a desperate heart, finally realizing the impact of these words. In the original Greek, the word “shows” also means to demonstrate. God’s love was already there, but it was established and proven when Christ went to the cross. While we were still enemies, given over and enslaved to sin, God used His agape (unconditional) love to save us. The word for “sinners” in the Greek doesn’t mean people dabbling in sin. It means those devoted to sin. Christ did not die for the godly, but the ungodly (Romans 5:6). Let God’s love linger in your lonely heart; the unrestricted, unlimited, and all-sufficient love of God.
2. Keep Calling God’s Name
Do you love God? The path of loneliness seems unfair, but loving God and living in His love has little to do with fairness. We do not deserve His love, but He loves us still. Not only did God send Christ to die for our sins, God is always listening. Our cries for mercy do not fall on deaf ears. The phrase, “inclined his ear” means He bends low, listens long, and stretches to hear us. It also is sometimes translated “to pitch” – like a tent. God sets up a tent next to our prayers. He is close and He listens. So let’s keep calling out to God with our prayers. Call His name, like a child seeking his parents. Call out God’s name and He is listening. Don’t give up prayers when loneliness lingers. Keep going, friend.
3. Redemption is Always the Plan
Ruth, the outcast who had suffered the death of her husband, found a refuge in Boaz. Many scholars believe he is a “type” of Christ. Boaz is a picture of what Christ does for the believer. As a Christian, our loneliness doesn’t get the final word. tThe Bible says God is a restorer of our lives. It might not look like what we think. Naomi’s sons were still dead and she most certainly held that heartache until she died….but God did a great work in her life. In Ruth 4:14 we read that Naomi’s life was restored. Sometimes I miss the restoration. The restoration God promises always involves redemption and even if we are still walking the path of loneliness, we can rest in God’s work in our lives in the process.
“Once we get intimate with Jesus we are never lonely and we never lack understanding or compassion.”
Oswald Chambers
I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5
This is true whether I feel it or not. Can we believe with our minds what our hearts have forgotten? Truth is still true, no matter how we feel. I’ve developed this brand new reading plan for free. Download it here. You can also share it with a friend!