No Loneliness is Too Overwhelming

“No Loneliness Is Too Overwhelming”

Part 5 of “Nothing’s Too Hard For God”

- Glenn, age 7 - If falling love is anything like learning how to spell, I don’t want to do it. It takes too long.
- Tom, age 5 - Once I’m in kindergarten, I’m going to find me a wife.
- Kenny, age 7 - It gives me a headache to think about that stuff. I’m just a kid. I don’t need that kind of trouble.
- Regina, age 10 - I’m not rushing into love. I’m finding fourth grade hard enough.
- Angie, age 10 - Most men are brainless, so you might have to try more than once to find a live one.
- Dave, age 8 - Love will find you, even if you are trying to hide from it. I’ve been trying to hide from it since I was five, but the girls keep finding me.
- Ava, age 8 - One of you should know how to write a check. Because, even if you have tons of love, there is still going to be a lot of bills.
- Manuel, age 8 - I think you’re supposed to get shot with an arrow or something, but the rest of it isn’t supposed to be painful.

I Kings 19:1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."

3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

Loneliness.

Perhaps we can define loneliness as unwanted emotional isolation.

Statistics show that one out of every three people in America suffer from loneliness.

NO LONELINESS IS TOO OVERWHELMING

50 leading journalists and writers compiled a list of the ten most expressive words in the English language and here is what they came up with . . .

The most beautiful word in the English language is LOVE.

The warmest word is FRIEND.

The most peaceful word is TRANQUILITY.

The most tragic word is DEATH.

The most revered word is MOTHER.

The most inspiring word is FAITH.

The saddest word is FORGOTTEN.

The cruelest word is REVENGE.

The coldest word is NO.

And the bitterest word is . . . LONELY.

Popular songs from yesterday and today talk about loneliness . .

Dan Peak and America sang . . . This is for all the lonely people; Thinking that life has passed them by; Dont give up until you drink from the silver cup; And ride that highway in the sky.

Carole King: Winter, spring, summer or fall, all you got to do is call, and I’ll be there.
Paul McCartney: All the lonely people, Where do they all come from? All the lonely people, Where do they belong?
Elvis Presley: Just take a little walk down lonely street to heartbreak hotel.
James Taylor: Do me wrong, Do me right. Tell me lies but hold me tight. Save your good-byes for the morning light. But don’t let me be lonely tonight.
Bonnie Rait: What can I do to get back to you. I’m feeling desperate and lonely.
Johnny Cash sang, “I’m so lonely I could cry.”

Celine Dion sings, All by myself, don’t wanna be, All by myself, anymore

Kurt Cobain, the lead singer from Nirvana, committed suicide a few years ago. In the days leading up to his suicide one of his diary entries read: "Somebody, anybody, God help, help me please. I want to be accepted...I’m so tired of crying and dreaming, I’m so so alone."

Few emotions are more painful that the emotion of loneliness.

1) Who deals with loneliness?

- Think of the single adult enduring the pain of a broken romance.

It can get pretty quiet at home when you are not married. Making meals and sitting down and eating meals for just one person. No one to discuss matters with or argue with.
- Think of the divorced person who doesn’t know who to spend his or her time with during the holidays.

Think of the married person who has no intimacy with his or her spouse.

Marriage doesn’t solve loneliness. Married people can be just as lonely as single people. Just because two people live in a house together does not mean that they communicate about their fears, frustrations and hardships. They may live as two ships passing in the night – simply living separate lives under the same roof! Your spouse might be unsaved – you wish they shared your love for Jesus
- Think of the parents whose arms ache for their child who moved away. Empty Nesters can have its moments.

Think of the individual who has lots of acquaintances, but no deep relationships.

Think of the military person who has been away from home and family for a long time.

Think of the inmate who is behind bars in confinement.

- Think of the individual dealing with the passing away of a loved one. This is a hard one for many here. The one they loved and got to know intimately over the years is suddenly taken in death. You did everything together and now you do it alone. Now, it is just not the same. Every moment of every day you think about that person.
- Think of the teenager who doesn’t have a date to the prom.

- Think of the individual going through an illness or perhaps on the verge of major surgery. They can feel all alone.

- Think of the lonely senior citizen. Health needs can keep her more shut-in and away from the group. Being disconnected makes her feel alone. Maybe she feels like no one needs her any more. Her sense of usefulness is gone.
- Think of the person who is part of the crowd, but still feels alone.

Loneliness can hit many of us.

2) How do most people deal with loneliness?

Perhaps you’ve seen the sitcom of a few years ago, Cheers.

Sometimes you wanna go, where everybody knows your name.

Why did that group of people connect so closely?

Because they all dealt with some form of loneliness.

Cliff was a single adult who never felt accepted.

Norm was a married man who never wanted to be at home.

Woody was away from his family, all alone.

Sam dealt with his loneliness by having illicit relationships.

Chuck Swindoll writes: “Loneliness is the most desolate word in all human language….It plays no favorites, ignores all rules of courtesy, knows neither border nor barrier, yields no mercy… Crowds only make it worse; activity only drives its deeper… There simply is no anguish like the consuming anguish of loneliness. Ask the inmate in prison, or the soldier thousands of miles over seas, the man sitting in some bar last night, or the divorcee in that apartment, or the one who buried his or her life’s companion, or the couple whose arms ache for the child recently taken, or the single career-minded person who prepares a meal for one and goes to bed early, alone, or the married woman who’s surrounded by the mute memory of yesterday’s song and today’s disappointment.” What words come to mind when you think of ALONE or LONELY? Isolated…disconnected… emptiness… solitary… abandoned… forsaken… secluded… alienated… ache…hunger…fear… desolate? Loneliness really hits us all. There is the loneliness of… responsibility… leadership… busyness… singleness… divorce… unfulfilled marriages… empty nesters… growing old…failure… success…shame…fear…and being misunderstood. Loneliness is…the HUNGER of the human heart for intimate companionship… the LONGING for meaningful connections to significant others…the ACHE of abandonment…the ISOLATION of busyness… the FEELING that you don’t belong…the FEAR that no one cares.

Some people try to deal with their loneliness by maintaining a daily "To-do" list and sets priorities carefully. But to attempt an escape from loneliness through schedule-chasing activism promotes self-delusion of the most extreme sort. Other people try to escape loneliness by some new travel experience - seeing some new place, meeting some new friend, buying some new things. There just isn’t enough money to buy off loneliness. Still others try to escape their loneliness by getting high with drugs and alcohol. This never solves problems, but in the end becomes a problem. They live a life of denial. Other, people use food to dull the pain of loneliness. There are others who just give up. They are convinced that the loneliness in their lives is without any possible cure. Many of these are convinced that their loneliness results from situations outside themselves.

3) How should we deal with loneliness?

Paul, a single man, writes the following – perhaps on the topic of him dealing with loneliness . . I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. Philippians 4:11

I know loneliness. In my case, I have been a single adult for more than 9 years.

I know what it is like to spend a holiday or a birthday alone. It is not easy.

Many times, people have politely asked me, “Why aren’t you married yet?”

One time, someone said, “I feel sorry for you because you are still single.”

I am not co-dependent. I’ve seen many people rush into a marriage commitment because they of loneliness – they think that this person is their answer to loneliness. Only to realize a few months later that they made a mistake.

This is what I have learned . . I don’t need a “person” to heal my loneliness.

I need to be spiritually mature enough to overcome my loneliness.

As Christians, Even though we may have to deal with loneliness, we are never alone!

Understand these three things . . .

a) Christ knows how you feel

Jesus understands.

He knows what it is like to be alone and to feel abandoned.

His disciples left Him.

The people who praised Him with Hosannas changed their cry to “crucify Him.”

Isaiah 53:3 says that Jesus was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Christ found himself carrying a heavy cross on a lonely road to Golgatha.

How come people turned against Him?

With all the people around Him, He still felt so alone.

He was misunderstood. Despised. Rejected. Betrayed and abandoned.

Then, on the cross, He feels that His Father has walked away from Him and He cries out, “My God, my God, why . . . ?”
It was the most gut-wrenching cry of loneliness in history, and it came not from a prisoner cell or an empty home or doctor’s office. It came from a hill, from a cross, from the Son of God.
"My God, my God," he screamed, "why have you forsaken me!"
Never have words carried such hurt. Never has one being been so lonely.

The despair is darker than the sky.

Have you ever felt that God was not there for you? Jesus knows how you feel.

But the truth is that God is there for you.

But sometimes, the presence of God is behind the cloud of loneliness.

b) God longs to spend time with you.

Most issues of loneliness deal with a lack of RELATIONSHIP.

Could it be that the Lord wants to build a deeper RELAIONSHIP with you so that you can deal with loneliness?

What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear

What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer.

Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer

In Jesus, you have a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

When you spend time with the Lord, He speaks to you!

Deuteronomy 31:6 says, Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."