Loneliness—and the Cure

There is a mystery in human hearts: to every one of us, from time to time, there comes a sense of utter loneliness.

Some of the loneliest people in the world are those who are constantly surrounded by others, yet they feel that no one truly knows or understands them. They may even have an abundance of material things—everything to satisfy every physical need—yet they complain of loneliness. They long to share their interests with someone, to find someone who will listen to their problems and sympathize with them.

We may have a lifelong companion or dear friends who love us, but even they will never know or understand us completely. We may climb the heights of success or accomplishment, yet there is no one who can fully share the emotion of that moment when we finally reach our goal. Our dearest friend is a stranger to our supreme joy and cannot realize our most bitter pain. Some tears are always shed alone. No other human being can ever enter the deepest recesses of our mind or soul.

“There is no one who really understands, no one to share all I feel!” Such is the cry of each of us, in turn. We wander in a solitary way, no matter what or where our lot may be. Each heart, mysterious even to itself, must live its inner life in solitude.

But why? Why do we all have this deep craving to be understood by someone? Why this intense longing to have another share our joys and triumphs, sorrows, and defeats?

Did God, who made us a living soul, make some mistake in this, His masterpiece, humankind? Has He left some void in our makeup? He made provision for every other hunger of life: bread for the hunger of the body, knowledge for the hunger of the mind, love for the hunger of the heart. Has He then left the soul unsatisfied, with this longing for deepest understanding and truest companionship unfulfilled? Has He left this loneliness of ours unanswered?

There is an answer to these questions. This incompleteness that we feel is a need of our soul for God. He knew that when we found human sympathy lacking, we would seek the divine. He knew that this very sense of isolation, of not being understood, would drive us to Him.

God made us for Himself. He desires our love. He put a little sign on the table of your heart that reads, “Reserved for Me.” In every heart, He wishes to be first. He therefore keeps the secret key Himself, the key to open all our hearts’ chambers and to bless with perfect sympathy and peace each solitary soul that comes to Him.

God Himself is the answer, the fulfillment. He who made us is the only One who can fill every part of our life. God’s Word says He is our “satisfying portion.” Not until He fills that inner longing will we ever be truly satisfied or completely free from loneliness.

God wants to satisfy that need, but He and His love are so big, so great, that they are beyond our comprehension. That is why He needed to make someone who could show us His love in terms we could understand, someone who was within our realm, someone we could experience, one Man who was like Himself, His Son.

Jesus is touched with our every longing, and He will satisfy every longing of our heart. As He enters our life, He becomes our satisfaction. He is complete companionship, ideal and perfect friendship.

There’s no need to ever be lonely. Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” and “I am with you always.”

So when you feel this loneliness, it is the voice of Jesus saying, “Come to Me.” And every time you feel that no one understands, it is a call for you to come to Him again. And when beneath some heavy load you faint and say, “I cannot bear this alone,” you say the truth. The grief that no one understands conveys a secret message from the King, entreating you to come to Him again. You cannot come too often.

His presence satisfies the lonely soul, and those who walk with Him from day to day can never know a solitary way.

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Proverbs 15:13-14 ESV / A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed. The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.

Psalm 62:5 ESV / For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.

John 14:18 ESV / “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.