Loneliness

And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself.

Genesis 2,18

Loneliness.

Even Adam, the perfect man in a perfect world with a perfect relationship to his Creator experienced loneliness.

How could this be?

Did this mean that "God wasn't enough"? 

No, for even our Lord greatly desired the companionship of His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane where he sweat great drops of blood in agony.

Loneliness is a great mystery, one which few if any of us can say we are not intimately acquainted. 

Loneliness does not sting like a laceration or cause us to tremble as does fear; no, loneliness corners us in our interior life and reveals to us a gaping, cavernous emptiness that the Creator intended to be filled with human companionship. 

The absence of this companionship can be fertile ground for both personal growth and demonic temptation. 

When loneliness is the result of abandonment or personal rejection, the ache is intensified by the silent voices of accusation.

Surely I deserve this; my sins have caused it. 

I am most unworthy of love; I am unlovely and unlovable.

We hear the same voice accuse Christ: if you are the Son of God, command stones to be bread. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.

The Prophet Isaias saw Him far off: 

"Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not." (Is. 53,3)

No, loneliness is the lot of all the sons of Eve.

For some, it is a crushing weight driving them to despair of hope; for others, a severe trial intensifying feelings of alienation and insecurity.

For others loneliness is the source of crippling shame.

What if others knew how much I hurt and long for another to listen patiently and enter - even briefly - into this dark valley of sorrow with me?

Facing ourselves alone can be frightening. Intimidating. Cruel.

Yet the promise of our Lord Who knew and understood loneliness better than any man is that we need not ever face ourselves alone.

He is with us always, and will never abandon us to ourselves. 

He loves each of us as though there were only one of us.

He sends the Holy Spirit into our hearts crying, "abba! Father!"

He makes us temples of the same Spirit.

He lovingly commits an angel to each of us which always sees the face of God.

Loneliness.

Don't be ashamed.

Don't be afraid.

Its okay to be lonely.

Its a big part of our broken human existence after the Fall.

Nothing I have written here ends the bitter pangs of loneliness for anyone.

My hope is that disclosing the universality of loneliness will make someone feel less estranged, alienated, or awkward.

Maybe we can be lonely together.

🙂  God love you.

Originally posted 26 September 2022