“I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
Psalm 102:7, ESV
“At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!”
2 Timothy 4:1
The Bible is sensitive and aware of the difficulties of loneliness.
We discover that the sense of being all alone is quite common. We’ll encounter this awful thing before our day is done. To be alone, isolated, and separated brings us a ‘solitary confinement‘ of our hearts. That difficult confinement will never be easy.
There’s a place where the Lord orders us to be quarantined.
Sometimes, in order to deal with certain sins, our Father will purposefully isolate us from others. Your sinful attitudes may spread to others. Sin is often compared to spiritual leprosy–it’s contagious.
But loneliness doesn’t have to be a sin issue. Being lonely can be a season in your life; like winter is waiting for spring. This is a hard time to be sure. The field seems dead, fallow, and waits for planting seed. Ministry is not really easy during this season. It seems like a time of preparation.
Both David and Paul were often lonely.
King David looked around and found nobody that he could be with. He felt like a solitary bird when all had flown away, and the apostle Paul knew true abandonment. Everyone had left him by himself in this difficult spot. The reality is, we need others.
Jesus knew what it was like to be terribly lonely.
“You will leave me alone, but I am never really alone because the Father is with me” (read John 16). I often think He spent all that time in prayer, to somehow connect with His Father was because of loneliness. It seems Jesus had a deep need to be understood.
Your loneliness can be redeemed and used by God.
Loneliness is one of our Lord’s favorite tools in restoring our hard hearts. It has a wonderful capacity to do things in us, that none of His other ways would work. It can be the perfect mechanism for Him to deeply touch us. And He will not hesitate to use it.
Often there can be a definite loneliness as we move toward Him.
This is acquired loneliness that comes when we start separating ourselves from the world. Few or any will understand you, or why you are doing this. To follow Jesus, is to become like Him. If He struggled at times with loneliness, so will you.
I can say no ‘magic words’ that will lift you out of this pain.
Sometimes you just might have to plow it through it on your own. But I can tell you that He is wildly and passionately in love with you. You are never alone. Never. Don’t lose heart, dear one.
If everyone forsakes you and leaves you standing alone in a tight spot, the Lord will be there. He is your best friend.
“For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5
