Loneliness is a feeling not uncommon to most of us. Oftentimes in these seasons, we feel as if we are surrounded by hundreds or even thousands of people, but still have no one. Loneliness is an emotional state that needs to be dealt with.

COPING WITH LONELINESS

Within my own experience, I feel loneliest when the lights have been turned off at the end of the day. As my head hits the pillow, I become conscious of my suppressed thoughts and feelings. These thoughts of loneliness leak through the walls of busyness I had built up, giving voice to what I feel within my heart. It is as if avoiding the pain-inducing thoughts is not an option when there simply is nothing else to run to in order to distract myself from the undesired feeling of loneliness. Whether my own personal experiences of loneliness are shared or not, and whatever your own experience may be, how should we to respond in the midst of loneliness? When the light of hope within ourselves is cut off and dismay begins to take over, how do we react?

Because loneliness is universal, there are a variety of means people use to deal with it. Unfortunately, it is not a problem with a universal solution. We live in a culture that is good at coping — meaning that when these thoughts arise, our first instinct is to run to whatever makes us feel most comfortable or safe. These things could include: busying ourselves with work, family, friends and relationships, drowning our feelings in alcohol, escaping the feelings with a high or even masking the feelings with religious activity. I have noticed all of these tendencies within my own generation — hurting people striving to escape the devastation of their own pain, especially loneliness. But I have come to learn that instead of being a society that is good at coping, we need to be a society that is good at lamenting and grieving.

REMEMBERING GOD'S FAITHFULNESS

We need to be a group of people who are not afraid to express the reality of the state of our hearts. Still, this is not the final solution. If we open up our hearts and share our loneliness and hurt with those around us without first going to Jesus, then we have only set ourselves up to experience dissatisfaction and eventual resentment, propelling us into a deeper isolation from our peers. For this reason, I want to emphasize the necessity of exposing our hearts first to Christ in the midst of our loneliness if we want any victory over these feelings.

Friends, remember God’s words in Isaiah 41:10 as you battle your loneliness: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold