Loneliness

Relaxing on Saturday past, I watched an episode of Morse – the fictional Detective Inspector played by the late John Thaw. It was as good a story-line as any other episode and, of course, with the (sometimes unwitting!) help of Detective Sergeant Lewis, Morse solved the crime(s). However, it was one line, near to the end, that stayed with me. The mother of one of the murderers, was being released – her son having already been arrested – and, as she was escorted from the cells, she passed Morse and, looking at him with some bitterness, said, “I suppose I’ll be lonely again, now”.

Loneliness. There’s a reality to it. It is, plainly and simply, a fact that there are people who are lonely – some of them desperately so. And one can be lonely even in the midst of crowds of people. Indeed, it has been said that the loneliest place on earth can be a large city. Bustling crowds – but everyone concerned about his/her own affairs, with no time for anyone else.
And loneliness may take many different forms. It may be physical – caused by the death of a spouse of many years; or by the demands of a new job that takes us to the other end of the country (or even to another country!); or the need to move away in order to study, as many young folk will be doing over the next few weeks as they prepare for their first year at university ore college.

Of course, it may also be spiritual. One of the young girls in Liberty Community Church is having a ‘gap’ year – working within the Students’ Union of her university. She shared, recently, that while she loves the work, she is the only disciple of Jesus in the group, and that it can sometimes be very hard. I understood – I went through a similar situation during my time in the Merchant Navy (many years ago!).

Loneliness. It’s often quite tragic. When we are alone, there are burdens, and blessings, that we are unable to share. Burdens of failure; of anxiety; of pain. Blessings of success; of joy; of good health. It is true that “a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved; a joy shared is a joy doubled”. The tragedy of loneliness is that we can share neither our sorrows nor our joys.

Praise God, then, that there is a remedy for loneliness! In John’s account of the Gospel, and in the 32nd verse of chapter 16, we read these words of the Lord Jesus, to His disciples: “you … will leave me alone; yet I am not alone …” Alone – yet not alone! There is a cure for loneliness – “…for the Father is with Me.” The remedy for loneliness is found with the people of God. In my Merchant Navy days, I didn’t mind too much where I worshipped when I was able to get ashore on a Sunday. The only important thing was that these people acknowledged Jesus as Lord, and as the only way to full salvation. We were one in Him (cf.Gal.3:28) The remedy for loneliness is also, of course, found in the presence of God. In the Old Testament book of Daniel, we read of the three young men, best-known by their Babylonian names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Thrown into a fiery furnace because of their faithfulness to the Living God, the king testified to seeing “… four men, loose, walking in the midst of the fire … and the appearance of the fourth is like the Son of God.” (Dan.3:25).

Is loneliness a reality in your life? Then the message of the Christian Gospel is this – that in fellowship with the people of God, and in the presence of God there is a remedy, a cure; and that all you have to do is to accept it through the Lord Jesus Christ.