August 9 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

Loneliness is something countless people struggle with every day. Even though they may be surrounded by people, they feel an empty ache in their hearts. Loneliness is a horrible feeling that can tie your stomach in knots and fill you with anxiety. You feel cut off, unnoticed, unloved, neglected and maybe even unnecessary.

The Lord created us to be connected with other human beings. Did He not say in Paradise, “It is not good that man should be alone”? Yet we all know how deeply sin has touched us, even to the core of our most intimate relationships. Sometimes we think relationships will serve as a hedge against loneliness. But relationships and friendships can disappoint us, too, and are capable of causing great harm. Intimate connections are marred by fights, abuse, neglect and addictions. It happens in marriage and family life. On the playground, children learn quickly that their “friends” can be cruel. Someone can tell you that you are his/her best friend and then promptly go to someone else to talk about you behind your back. Teenagers will dump friends or keep them at arm’s length if they consider them a threat or competition in getting a boyfriend or girlfriend. Even when you are in a relationship there can be those dark times when you find yourself without someone to share your heart. Sometimes people withdraw from others because they are hurting so badly that the pain of relationships is too much. The insensitive things people have said, or the horrible things others have done to them, make them feel miserable and wondering, “Why am I here?”

All this sounds pretty negative! But that is where sin has left us. The apostle Paul reminds the Ephesians that before they came to know the only true God, they were separate from Christ, without hope and without God in the world (2:12). We need to keep this in mind when we feel disconnected and detached from friends and neighbours. Such feelings can be traced to the fact that at one time we were separated from Christ and were without hope and without God. That is why we are comforted so marvellously knowing that we “who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (2:13) Let us praise God for the gospel He gives to lonely people. We are welcomed into the embrace of Christ and placed in the company of His people.