Always Surrounded By Love

Reflect on God’s Word

Have you ever felt lonely even when you’re not alone?

Sometimes, loneliness strikes hardest when you’re surrounded by people, but you feel disconnected from them or invisible to them. You feel no one notices you or cares about you. No one gets you. Other times, hours or days spent alone can leave you feeling utterly forgotten by the outside world.

You call out but hear only an echo. You reach out your hand but don’t find anyone to clasp hands with you. Your voice grows weak. Your hand stays empty.

Loneliness is painful, and it can make your soul restless as you long for deep relationships.

When you’re feeling lonely, tell God how you feel and put your hope in him. Join the psalmist in asking God to “turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted” (Psalm 25:16).

Though you may feel alone, you are never alone. Though you may feel unknown, God knows every hair on your head and every hurt in your heart. Verses 20 and 21 of that same psalm say, “Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, LORD, is in you.”

Rest in the comfort of God’s presence. God is with you now, surrounding you with his great love.

He will hear your prayer and answer you. Maybe not in the way you expect. Maybe not on the timetable you’d prefer. But put your trust in God, and he will lead you through loneliness with his steadfast love.

King David, who wrote Psalm 25, knew loneliness and affliction. He was often in great physical danger. But this psalm is rich in truth. Let David’s words remind you of God’s great love:

I trust in you;

do not let me be put to shame,

nor let my enemies triumph over me.

No one who hopes in you

will ever be put to shame,

but shame will come on those

who are treacherous without cause. . . .

Guide me in your truth and teach me,

for you are God my Savior,

and my hope is in you all day long.

Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love,

for they are from of old. . . .

Good and upright is the LORD;

therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

He guides the humble in what is right

and teaches them his way.

All the ways of the LORD are loving and

faithful

toward those who keep the demands of

his covenant.

For the sake of your name, LORD,

forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

My eyes are ever on the LORD,

for only he will release my

feet from the snare.

(Psalm 25:2–3, 5–6, 8–11, 15)

Jesus understands the pain of loneliness like no one else does. Isaiah 53:2–5 describes the Messiah. Try to imagine Jesus as he’s described here:

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us

to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should

desire him.

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar

with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low

esteem.

Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was

on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

Jesus can sympathize with all your weaknesses, your sorrow, and your needs. By his wounds, you are healed. Ask Jesus to bring healing to your heart today.

This is the promise of God: that even in your loneliness, you are never alone. God’s love always surrounds you.

Release Your Loneliness

One of the dangers of loneliness is that it can cause us to become more and more self-focused, caught up in our own sadness and isolation.

Are you open to what God has to give you today, to the ways God wants to provide for you in your loneliness? As you take a deep breath, hold out your hands, asking God to fill them. Touch your eyes, asking God to change your perspective, giving you eyes to see the people he’s put in your life who might need you to be a friend to them.

Now think back to the loneliest times in your life. How did the Lord minister to you in those seasons? Perhaps there was a Scripture that spoke to you, or a person God sent to you. Take a moment and reflect on the ways God provided for you during lonely times in the past. How can you do the same for others?

Let your loneliness draw you nearer to the God of light and all comfort.

Jesus, you know what it feels like to be forsaken by all your closest friends. You were a man of sorrows; you were acquainted with grief. Please comfort me in my loneliness and help me give you thanks for this challenging season. Teach me how to trust you even in the darkest stretches. Stay with me and let me taste the sweetness of your presence. Thank you for taking on flesh and coming to earth. I know that you sympathize with my pain and loneliness. Hear my call, Jesus. Take my hand. It’s in your name I pray, amen.

JOURNAL PROMPT: Why do you think God allows us to experience loneliness? How have you experienced God’s love in times of loneliness?