With the closeout of the year 2023, we think it’s necessary for us to assess our relationships with others. Specifically relationships that don’t serve us or our souls. Too many times we’ve seen or even experienced a relationship that was detrimental to our personal growth. Scarily enough, the relationship was even detrimental to our soul. Every living creature has this innate desire to be loved and cared for. We see proof of this when babies fresh from the womb yearn for closeness. Through skin to skin contact, babies are able to feel peace with the familiar sensation of being in the womb. Their heart and body temperature are able to be regulated through just another human connection. This yearning to connect never leaves us as we grow into full adulthood. Our elder and sickly family members are able to pass into eternity peaceably surrounded by supportive loved ones. To be loved on as one passes into eternity surely takes the sting out of death for that person. We are able to handle the struggle of life a lot better when bolstered up by those who care about us the most. We are able to handle challenges that life hands us when the support and closeness of our village rise higher than the walls of hardship.
When this foundational need to be loved is not met, we tend to be determined and at times eager for any opportunity to be loved. Eagerness turns to desperation and that desperation catches the attention of the wrong ones. When this desperation manifests, our ability to discern who and what is best for our lives is no longer active and we open ourselves up to potentially experiencing turmoil at the hands of the ones that we allow to get close to us. We allow others to enjoy who we are while simultaneously destroying what we could become. Does our desire to connect have to override our sense of self? Why do we have to lose ourself just to feel something? We may even believe that it is better to feel the burn from the fire than to not feel anything at all.
Some of us are surrounded by a lot of people and yet still feel loneliness. No matter who comes around and gets close to us, we still may not feel a connection. Sometimes as we grow older we can no longer relate to those we’ve been close to all of these years. To be in a room full of people and still feel the overwhelming sense of isolation, can cause all sorts of emotions. Satan would love nothing more than to cause you harm and he doesn’t care if it comes in the mental, emotional, or physical form. Make no mistake, where ever we are in our walk in God, Satan will attempt to burden you with a feeling of loneliness. For newcomers of Christ, he will try to tie an anchor of your past relationships onto you. For those still in the world, Satan will pressure you with the fear of abandonment by others after coming to God. And for our seasoned saints, he will try to burden you with thought of your future being filled with the sense of isolation. However, when the enemy comes at you, let’s remember one thing: you are never alone.
Some of us have thoughts that seem to occupy our minds on a daily basis like, “I am alone. I have no one else but myself.” Your circumstances are understood very well by your own mind and no one else can grasp the feeling inside of you. Let it be stated clearly this day that God is with you. At this juncture, some may sigh deeply and think to themselves, “I’ve heard this before.” But have you really taken this news to heart? Like really applied it to the area in your heart that aches with loneliness? When it hurts to think of the one you’re missing,
God is with you. When it’s late at night and no one else is there, God is with you. When you have to celebrate your achievements by yourself because you don’t know who else will care, God cares! Listen, God was on a mission to draw you closer to Him when He sent Jesus to die for our sins. We could not get to God on our own accord. Even as He sent His Son to Earth, that Son, Jesus, had to make the decision to die for us! After Jesus was born, he grew, learned, prayed, fasted, taught, healed. Later he was bruised, stabbed, and finally killed. All of this just so we can have an opportunity to draw closer to the Father. He rose again for us and as He ascended to heaven, He was gracious enough to leave us with the Holy Spirit.
The ache of loneliness for us can be vast but let us not overlook the depth in which careful consideration was taken to connect us with our Father. That ache is also a trick of the enemy to cause us to fall into the temptation of sin. Do not allow the enemy to take the present peace of God and replace it with temporary fulfillment. Even if we were to find a human connection that meets our standards it still wouldn’t and couldn’t be able to compare to the love that the Father has for you. According to Ephesians 3:20, God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Even the love of a million people couldn’t come close to that.
With our final moments in this reading, we would like you to leave you with a prayer to help encourage and give you hope. We would also like to leave a song and these scriptures to help you in your personal time with God.
Psalm 23:1-6
Psalm 34:18
Joshua 1:9
Mark 10:29-30
Lamentations 3:22-24
Dear Heavenly Father, we are thankful for the reminder that we are never alone. We are thankful that wherever we are on our journeys with You, You are willing to meet us. To be loved by You is truly in an honor. We ask on this day, Lord, that You begin to mend the heart of Your people. So many of us are experiencing a loneliness like never before and can’t help but to feel hopeless. Hear our cry, Lord. We ask that You begin to show Yourself to us so that we can have proof that we are not alone. Let us feel Your love and light. Let us experience You through the ones around us. We ask that as You begin to manifest Yourself to us that You put a hedge of protection around us. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
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