Many Christians who say they are NOT lonely are actually waging a daily battle with LONELINESS.
Yesterday we addressed the epidemic of LONELINESS that is snaking around the world. We reviewed how this ministry’s January 2022 survey revealed that Christians in over 100 countries are living with LONELINESS.
But we also learned this TROUBLING FOOTNOTE to that tragic story:
Believers are reluctant to tell OTHERS they are lonely and, in many cases, not admit it to THEMSELVES. “Lonely? Me? No way.”
That kind of thinking is dangerous because it erects a barrier between us and God who wants to soothe our pangs of loneliness and shift our focus to him.
No matter what happens in our circumstances, God wants us to fight off our loneliness by continually stretching our perspective beyond the trials of our lives.
“We are often troubled, but not crushed; sometimes in doubt, but never in despair; there are many enemies, but we are never without a friend; and though badly hurt at times, we are not destroyed.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
All of us are vulnerable at times to life’s pervasive pull toward being LONELY. The good news is that God helps us through these dips. But there is no MAGIC WAND to erase our harrowing sense of being alone. Beating it back is a process of reflecting on what God says and then praying to activate his perspective and power to fight off the attack.
Prayer is the first and best approach to stop our LONELINESS in its tracks. Sounds logical, right? We need that TWO-WAY conversation with God where we listen to his truths in HIS WORD about our feelings of loneliness. But many Christians respond in the OPPOSITE way. That is, the deeper the pain, the less we seem to pray and search God’s Word for the truth. Why do we settle for less than what our heart really desires? Why do we minimize God when he PROMISES to rescue us from loneliness and never leave us or forsake us?
“Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.” Psalm 27:10
I ask God to help me when feelings of loneliness enter my heart. To encourage me to tell him in full honesty WHATEVER I am feeling and then send me to his WORD that promises I will never be alone.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
What does God want you to do the next time loneliness hits your shore—perhaps in the next 10 days?
“Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:23-26
