Loneliness
Studies have shown that the generation labelled “Millennials” are the loneliest people on the planet. These young people, born just after the year 2000, lead lonely lives. Studies suggest that they are by themselves because they interact with people on cell phones, because they are playing video games and not socializing, and because they think that dating is too expensive. Loneliness can lead to anxiety, a loss of purpose in life, and a lack of social re-enforcement. This is a serious issue for our society to deal with.
Many people don’t realize that they are dealing with another kind of loneliness, with far greater implications. Isaiah declares, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God…so that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). That separation means that people live without God’s help, without the guidance from God’s Word, and without the purpose and hope that God gives in His Word.
Many people today would reject the idea that they are lonely without God. Yet, consider how much of the entertainment industry exists to provide a substitute for this loneliness with God. It does work—for a while. The sad secret is that some people in the entertainment industry realize how shallow their lives are, how easily fame can be taken away, and how pointless life is.
As a result of this loneliness with God, we live in a world where many people deal with depression, anger management, anxiety, and the abuse of many things.
Life without God is meaningless, as Jesus said, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and looses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). There is no profit, no personal gain, and no real future when people experience loneliness with God.
Even though the human race rejected God and rebelled against Him, God did not abandon those whom He created. God cares about every person on earth. He provides food and all that people need to live. He watches over them and protects them according to His will. And though mankind drew away from God, He send His beloved Son to rescue us from sin and death. The Bible says, “God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). While on earth, Jesus experienced our troubles and afflictions, and even gave Himself over to death in order to ransom all people from their sins.
If anyone was lonely, it should have been Jesus. He is God, who lived among sinners. Who was His equal that He could talk with? Even His closest disciples did not understand Him. The religious leaders of the time rejected Him, and the people were mostly indifferent to Him. Jesus was abandoned at His trials before the Sanhedrin and Pilate. On the cross Jesus even declared that He was forsaken by God!
Jesus did all this so that we could be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus. the Bible states, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Through the death of the friendless One, God forgives our sins and calls us by the Gospel to be His children.
By His goodness, God adopted people as His children through baptism. Baptism joins people with the forgiveness Jesus earned on the cross. By adoption, baptized people become heirs of eternal life. God hears their prayers and speaks to them through His Word.
So when believers in Jesus finds themselves alone—through the death of a spouse, surrounded by enemies of Jesus, or through persecution—such persons are not really alone, because God is with them, He helps them in their distress, and He sends His angels to guard them from evil.