LONELINESS
programme. I intend, subject to God’s blessing, to publish each week two messages, one for midweek
on a social issue, and the like with a purely biblical message at week-ends. I hope and pray they will
help, and will be pleased to receive any comments if anyone wishes to make.
For this first social issue, I have
taken the subject of loneliness which causes illness and other problems, and a
great deal of unhappiness with mental breakdown, with medication becoming
necessary.
For this first social issue, I have
taken the subject of loneliness which causes illness and other problems, and a
great deal of unhappiness with mental breakdown, with medication becoming
necessary.
Loneliness happens in varying
degrees, much depending on why one is lonely.
A temporary absence of friends,
illness, fear of going out. At
the present time loneliness has become very prevalent, with the pandemic
forcing man people, especially the older age groups, to remain in their homes
for months to avoid catching the virus. I know the medical profession has had
to deal with a rising number of people incurring mental disturbance because of
living alone.
It was never God’s intention for
people to have to face loneliness. The
Bible has shown how important it is for people
to be with another; separations and being out of touch with people was to be
avoided.
In the creation story, God said after creating
man, that it was not good for man to be alone, so he created woman to be his companion,
so making the perfect partnership.
In Hebrews, the writer called for
Christians to be with each other, and the well-known saying became well known, ‘no
man is an island’. Dwight L Moody, a
famous American preacher, encouraging a young man to be with other Christians,
used an illustration of a piece of coal falling from a fire and dropping on a
stone plate, where it stopped burning. People
can burn out if left for long period.
A most regular cause is after the
loss of a wife or husband, when you are left in isolation, with a feeling of
solitary confinement, where every minute seems like an hour. When two people
commit their lives to each other at a young age, and live with dependence on
each other for many years, the loss cannot fully be described. We all know life has to end, but no one can
anticipate the profound feeling and effect on the remaining partner.
No words can adequately describe what it is
like, half of one’s own life goes too;
the loss of any family members can be greatly felt, but none I believe can
equate with the loss of a wife or husband if the initial love is still existing. My experience as a Minister, is that women
usually face the loss better than men,
but may have more hardship in daily life, as often there is financial loss is
greater.
I cannot imagine the feeling of
divorcees, when the separation involves a breaking of vows, and you know the
other partner is alive, but you are deprived of their presence. There must
surely be feelings of betrayal and desertion, and in such cases women are the
more likely to feel the effect in middle class families. The words of Henry
Ford, the motor magnate, are so wise.
Asked how he managed to have such a long and happy marriage, he is
quoted as saying, like with a car, keep the same model.
Yet again, men are more prone to
wander away, and even in equally faulty circumstances, the wife is left to fend on her own with reduced
finance, sense of betrayal, and coping with the children.
Young people becoming University
students and leaving the protection and comfort of living with a family to go
and live alone, problems arise when sometimes
dubious circumstances arise in a city distant from their own. I have seen my
own children and grandchildren having to live in student accommodation which
was so different from home. In one case the accommodation was deplorable, made
worse perhaps by the fact that some young people are not use to cleanliness and
hygiene, and if prisoners were housed in public prisons of similar type, there
would be an outrage.
Problems arise when in desperation
of loneliness and new environment, they are vulnerable to the vultures tempting
them with drugs, alcohol, and unfitting sexual contacts.
Whatever the cause of loneliness,
Christians can get encouragement from knowing they can call on God who stated, ‘I
will never leave nor forsake you’. He promised
would not leave anyone who called on him, because of the death of Jesus on the
Cross, who in that loneliness died to gain forgiveness for us, and so made us
righteous in God’s sight to give us
salvation.
Remember too, the long list of
people in the Bible from Abraham, the prophets, David the king of Israel, to
Paul who spent time of loneliness in a Roman prisone, which he eloquently
expressed in his very last Letter to Timothy before being executed; to Peter
and other Apostles.
Most of all to Jesus, who stood
alone on the Cross for you and me, even calling out to God as he faced the walk
to the Cross, but was ready to obey God and continued to do what God had
planned.
There are numerous things you can
do to ease feelings of distress in your loneliness. You can keep a loving photo
of that lost wife or husband, and think what you would say if he/she was
there. Keep a chair or a favourite
possession nearby, and think of all the happy times. People will tell you things
will get better as time goes on, but don’t be sure of that.
True love will no fade, but you
need to get involved in some activity.
Visit your local Church where you will make friends. You can always ask
God to help you.
There was a well known song, sung
by Bing Crosby,at a time when singers had nice voices,and the songs had
meaning, it was called ‘true love’ . I close
with two verses.
While I give to you and you give to
me For you and I have a
guardian angel
True love, true love. On high
with nothing to do
So on and on it will always be But to give to you and to give to me
True love, true love Love, for ever true
Having spent a life-time dealing
with people, and facing reality, the words fidelity, loyalty, trust, love, and
tolerance, have I know to a great extent, a very great extent, lost their traditional
meaning. What makes it worse, is that people are not feeling any guilt.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, the world is full of
lonely people who are weary and burdened, alone and afflicted. Be gracious to
each hurting soul. I ask that many would find their comfort and succour in You,
Who came to earth to carry our burdens, heal our brokenness, and set us free
from life’s bondage. Thank You, that You have promised to give Your precious
rest and perfect peace to all who look to You.
Fulfil Your many promises to
those that are lonely and afflicted. Set the lonely in families free as You
have promised if others forsake us, You will never ever leave us nor forsake
us. Thank You for the many precious promises that are specially for those that
are lonely, and I pray that You would meet each one at their very point of
need. I ask this in Jesus' name,
Amen.
May God bless his Word to us, and
may his Holy Name be praised.
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