Only the Lonely

“Did you know llamas can die of loneliness?”, one of my students asked me as she walked in the room. She loves llamas and hopes to one day have one. I said, “No, I did not”. She said, “That is why when you get one you actually need to get two so they want be lonely.” You learn something new everyday I guess.

It got me to thinking. Just as llamas need someone, so do people. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” God didn’t design us to be alone. He gave Eve to Adam because He said it was not good for man to be alone. How true this is. What is so amazing though, is that in a world of seven billion people, we should have so many lonely ones.

How as believers can we help?

First, understand you probably know someone who is very lonely and you just don’t realize it. Many times lonely people are good at hiding it. I have learned through the years that you can be in a crowd of people and still be lonely.

Second, pray that the Lord would grant you wisdom of who to reach out to and how. Once you know, reach out. Talk with them. Share a kind word. Invite them to dinner or lunch. You will be surprised what God can do.

What if you are the lonely one?

Tell the Lord. Lay your heart bare before him. He knows your greatest needs and he knows how to meet them, but telling Him will relieve some of the pressure. But let’s be honest, sometimes we just want someone we can hear and touch. As believers, that is one of the reasons we are to be a part of the church family. So they can help us carry our burdens, even the burden of loneliness. I have on a few occasions in life been very lonely. What I learned looking back is that we must strive to be satisfied with being in the presence of God. It is not easy to do that and it is something I think is only learned through time, but when we come out on the other side we will not only have a new way of looking at things, but we will be better able to understand and help those who are lonely.

Remember, reach out to others. That lonely person may only be a pew away.