What the Bible Says to the Lonely

For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own. — 1 Samuel 12:22

Time and again throughout the Old Testament, we find the Lord reaching out to His people, revealing himself to them, desiring to be with them and communicating with them. In 1 Samuel 12:22, we find this promise of God: “For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own.” God desires companionship, fellowship, and communion with those who will reciprocate his expressions of friendship.

We can count on the close communion of the Lord, even if everyone else abandons us. We see this in the life of Jesus. On the very night He was arrested and put on trial—the trial that led to His crucifixion—He said to His disciples, “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone.” Can you hear the pain in that statement? Jesus knew what it was to be lonely! But then He said, “Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me” (John 16:32). Jesus knew what it was to be comforted even in the face of abandonment.

When loneliness engulfs us, the first thing we must do is to turn our focus away from what we don’t have to what we do have. What do we have, you may ask? God himself!

You can never be alone once you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior. He promises that He dwells within you when you have received Him into your life and that He is connected to you, just as a vine and a branch are connected. In the same way that sap flows through a vine and its branches, so, too, the love of Christ flows in you and through you. He abides in you, and you abide in Him. You are one being with Christ. You share with him the most intimate relationship possible—an eternal, spiritual intimacy (John 15:1–9).

The depth of that intimacy, to a great extent, is up to you. How much do you desire that intimacy with the Lord? How much do you allow Him to fill you up with his presence? How willing are you for Him to reveal himself to you? Even so, you can never totally isolate yourself from the Lord. He is always there, desiring to move ever closer to you.

Article drawn from The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible, 2nd Edition, NIV