Why So Lonely?

More people live in the world today than at any other time in history, more than 8 billion with another 200,000 added daily.  More people live in the United States today than at any other time in history, over 335 million with 80% living in cities.  We are more connected than ever before, by cell phone, text, email and social media. And, despite all this, we are lonely.

 A recent headline in USA Today,  proclaimed, “Americans are lonely and it’s killing them. ”The article went on to say, “ America has a new epidemic. It cannot be treated using traditional therapies even though it has debilitating even deadly consequences. The problem seeping in at the corners of our communities is loneliness.

 Perhaps our drive to gather in huge numbers is a symptom of our loneliness.  Stadiums and sports venues are overflowing.  The Taylor Swift Eras tour has packed out stadiums worldwide, averaging 72,000 per concert in the US. Swift jetted home from Tokyo to join more than 61,000 at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, while more than 200,000 packed the Waste Management golf tournament in Phoenix.

 At one time or another we all feel lonely. Even though we are surrounded by other people.  Sometimes it stems from a feeling that no one seems to understand, that no one knows who we really are “inside.”  Sometimes it stems from having no one in whom we can confide. 

 Sometimes we feel like we just don’t fit in.  This can be especially acute for teenagers trying to find their way, searching for their own identity.  The urge to dress alike, look alike, talk alike and act alike can be overwhelming and leave us with a feeling that, for all our efforts to be accepted, we don’t belong.

 At other times, loneliness is the result of isolation. This can be especially true for the home-bound, the disabled and the elderly, widows and widowers.  Days may pass without having a visitor or someone with whom to talk. 

 So, how do we respond in this age of loneliness.  There are several simple starting places. 

 First, know that God knows you. He knows you better than you know yourself. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you,” (Jeremiah 1:5).  “Lord, you have searched me and known me.  You know when I sit down and when I get up; you understand my thought from far away.  You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways, (Psalm 139:1-3).  “

 Second, seek out a faith community.  Go to church.  Participate in a small group where you can be known and loved.  “Not abandoning our own meeting together but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching,” (Hebrews 10:25).   

 Third, be there for someone else.  Seek out the isolated, the ostracized and the rejected.  Be a friend to someone else.  Visit the homebound.  Pick up the phone. Call someone. 

 God never intended that we should be alone or feel lonely. From the outset of creation God saw that “It is not good for man to be alone,” (Genesis 2:18).  “A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy dwelling.  God makes a home for the lonely,” (Psalm 68:5-6).

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