When We Feel Alone, We Need A Friend

When We Feel Alone, We Need A Friend

This message is for people who feel alone and isolated and it is also for the folks here this morning who don’t feel that way but these two groups of people need to know that the other group of folks is there.

I can hardly think of a worse feeling than feeling like I am all alone in this great big world even though the world is filled with over 7 billion people. All of us have felt lonely and alone at some point in our lives. Some of us here today may feel this way right now. Even if we have a husband or a wife and kids we can still get these debilitating feelings of loneliness.

I also understand that it is ok to be alone at times and trust me I know that there are times when being all alone can be a real blessing and being alone is necessary for our sanity, if for nothing else, just to clear our minds. I like to go trout fishing on my favorite trout river sometimes by myself just to get away and think and be a part of nature and just unplug for awhile and by the way if any of you would ever like to go with me sometime just let me know and I will be glad to be your river guide for the day.

Having said all of that about needing to be alone sometimes, I really want to focus on when we feel alone and isolated and it isn’t a positive feeling. God made us to be social creatures didn’t He? This is why we have families, friends, communities, and churches.

The pain that usually comes with feeling alone and isolated is very real and there are some people who just tell those who are lonely to just get over it and be more socially active but sometimes it isn’t that easy.

In Genesis chapter 2 verse 18 the Bible says this: 18 Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."

I want to tell you about some things that I did when I was feeling alone and isolated when I was younger. I used to live near Olympia in Washington State out in the country and I want yall to know that Tennessee doesn’t have the market cornered on country! I lived about 8-10 miles from where most of my friends lived and I was out of school at this time living with my Mom. When I would feel particularly alone I would get up very early get ready and dressed for the day and start to walk to where my friends lived. It was a LONG walk!

I didn’t really like to walk that much but I was just so lonely that walking all that way was better to me than being isolated at my house with no one around to talk to or do anything with. I was just lonely and sad. I just wanted to be around people and have friends. If this sounds like I was desperate, I was! I needed to be connected to people.

Like I just read, God knows that it isn’t good for us to be alone. It wasn’t good for Adam and it isn’t good for us either. God knew that Adam needed companionship and so He created Eve for him. Eve was called Adam’s helpmeet. God knew from the very beginning that mankind needs to be around other people.

And I want to say here that I know that today we have the internet and therein we have Facebook, MySpace, Skype, and e-mail and I know that this can help us to feel connected and I have no problem with this stuff, ok, maybe I have a little problem with it!

I believe that in a way these electronic mediums can actually help us to feel more disconnected from people. What I am talking about today is the need for in person, face to face connections with other people.

I believe that our very souls long for this kind of human connection. I truly hope that a virtual hug will never take the place of a real person to person hug like I get from some of yall here! I look forward to them every week.

When we lose the personal closeness of other people our minds can begin to really get messed up. We begin to think and then believe that there is something wrong with us and that we are just losers and no one can like us or want to be around us. These are just lies from Satan himself.

Satan takes great pleasure in getting into a lonely and isolated person’s mind and getting them to focus on nothing else but being lonely and isolated. Satan wants to keep you separated from anything and everything that can help you in your time of loneliness. Satan will poison your thinking and get you to be so upset and discouraged that a person can easily sink into deep depression and let feelings of uselessness and sadness take over and cause us to lose hope.