WE MAY BE LONELY, BUT WE ARE NOT ALONE

“Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.”  – Psalm 69:20 (ESV).

There was once an advertisement in a newspaper that read: “I will listen to you talk for 30 minutes without comment for five dollars.” It sounds fishy, but in a few hours, that ad generated 10 to 20 calls. The pain of loneliness for some is so sharp that they are willing to try anything for half an hour of companionship.

The scourge of loneliness hits all of us at some point in our lives. It can last from a moment to a lifetime. There is the loneliness of college: away in a new place without any friends. There is also the loneliness of moving to a new city and not really knowing anyone. There is the loneliness of losing a job.

Loneliness is not a new concept. Psalm 25:26 (ESV)  says, “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.” And Paul, writing from jail, in 2 Timothy 4:16 (ESV) says , “At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me.” And lest we ever forget, everyone had deserted Him when Jesus was on the cross. He cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus knew what it was to be entirely without another by His side.

But what about us today? It is hard to be lonely when you have a relationship with God. When it seems like there is no one to reach out to, there is always the Lord. Psalm 27:10 (ESV) says, “For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.” God will never leave you nor forsake you. While people come and go, He is always there. Rick Warren said, “Because God is with you all the time, no place is any closer to God than the place where you are right now.”

But we must also invest in deep, meaningful relationships with other believers. As followers of Jesus Christ, we need real fellowship with other believers. We need the kind of fellowship that cannot take place in a worship service on Sunday morning, but rather the kind that happens by living life alongside one another and sharing joys and burdens, sorrows and disappointments, and victories and defeats. We need a place to “plug in,” a place to serve and support others and to be served and supported by others. We need an inner circle, just like Jesus had. These trusted friends will allow us to be transparent with our sin struggles and will love us enough to be there yet still hold us accountable to the truth of God’s Word. This is a biblical community. Even without a theological argument, we know we are better when we do life together and participate in small groups.

Do you have this type of Christian fellowship in your life?  If not, you are missing a vital element in your relationship with God.

Discussion Questions:

1. Sometimes, we are not paying attention, and lonely neighbors are in our blind spots. How do we identify someone in our blind spot?
2. How can we make a significant impact on the life of a neighbor who is experiencing loneliness?