Loneliness is something we all experience from time to time. It's not fun. Rarely do we get to experience any enjoyment from "feeling alone." But loneliness DOES happen. Even in this world we live in today we can feel alone despite all the cellphones, internet, Facebook, e-mail, FaceTime, Skype, etc. So why is that? Why do we still feel so alone in a world filled that has more with ways to stay in touch than it ever did?
I think that one reason we can feel so alone is BECAUSE of those means of "keeping in touch." Because it is now so easy to contact other people we seldom venture out of our houses! There is less face-to-face, eye contact conversations.
I had a text conversation with a young lady in our youth group once who texted me one thing when she really meant another. I would ask, "How are you today?" She responded with "Okay." Now, in my mind she was doing good. She was okay. But in HER mind she was having a really bad day and was being sarcastic. Electronic communication in NOT the pace for sarcasm. It is also not the place to "get close" to someone so you can really know them.
When I was a kidI never used the phone much. I'd always get in the car an just drive to someone's house. Gone are the days of ringing someone's doorbell and asking if Johnny can come outside.
But there is a deeper reason we all tend to feel alone. It is the same reason we have always felt alone.
There is a deep, inner yearning that we all have to feel loved. We long to be loved. We have always wanted to be loved since the day we were born, nursed by our mothers, and had our every need cared for. But than inner need for love goes back further than that. It goes back BEFORE we were born. Read what God once told the prophet Jeremiah.
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." - Jeremiah 1:5
God knows us and loves us before we are born. Before we were even created we were loved! There is a deep desire in each of us to love and to be loved by others. Sadly, as that old country song goes, we are "looking for love in all the wrong places."
We might like someone at school and think we have found love but earthly relationships can end in failure. Sometimes we want to be loved so badly that we compromise our beliefs and morals to get that love. A young girl finds herself pregnant, the "dad" leaves the picture and suddenly a teenager is raising a baby . . . alone.
The basis for whether or not we feel alone . . . is love. If we are loved and we know it we will never feel alone. Loneliness is nothing more than a thorn in our side, a reminder that we must draw closer to God. Listen to these words from Paul.
"7 Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Should we find joy in our loneliness? Yes! When we are alone, when we are sad, when are angry, what do we do? We plaster it all over Facebook! WE ARE LOOKING FOR LOVE IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES!! We need to turn towards God. "HIS grace is sufficient."
"My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God." - Psalm 84:2
Our complete and total joy is found . . . in God. Our loneliness disappears . . . in God. Our search for love is satisfied . . . in God. Peace, grace, mercy, compassion, love, companionship, joy, fellowship, completeness . . . are all found in God.
If you are feeling lonely, draw closer to God. If you are feeling hurt and broken,do what I did none years ago . . . cry out to Jesus. You will never be alone again. :)
Cry Out To Jesus - Third Day
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