Ever feel lonely living and working at home with only your electronic devices for company? Maybe on a relocation plane ride with no companions to greet your arrival? How about in a bustling city center where the language and customs are not known to you? In the dark of night comforting a sick, crying infant with no one to relieve you? The only single person in a gathering of couples? Or lying back-to-back to your spouse with unresolved differences?  

What does it mean to be lonely? 

A random internet search for the definition of lonely or loneliness reveals some core descriptors, but not the particulars of how to identify the problem.  

It could be unhappiness over social isolation, like during COVID-19 months, or having no close connections. Or it could be feeling empty, dissatisfied while actually in the presence of others. 

Someone who is craving human contact that is meaningful in the exchange and fulfilling, may declare loneliness due to their own perceptions or expectations.  

Loneliness sounds fluid, undefinable, based on individual wishes or standards. 

So the big question is how then can God promise to be everyone’s answer to the loneliness quest? In every culture, in every circumstance, in every person’s “love language” and at any given moment in time? 

Because as Psalm 139 tells us, no one knows us better, our thoughts, our needs, our hurts, our capacity for relationships, and the best way to avoid long stretches of loneliness. We were made to be connected to others, but more importantly to our Heavenly Father.  

More than a psychological study or a 12-step program, God can teach, lead, provide, model, and completely enable us to enjoy healthy interactions. We can study accounts in the Bible of right and wrong ways to relate to others. But we must begin with receiving God’s love and acceptance of ourselves, understanding our value and destiny, and the directive to take our rightful place in our world. We have something precious to offer and deserve respectful engagement from others. 

Loneliness need not be our state of mind or heart’s condition when focused on the truth and love of God.