People who live in Chicago know this: Our seasons are uncontrollable and unpredictable.

The same is true about life. It’s unpredictable and include good times and bad times. There are four weather seasons, but there are many seasons in the seasons of life, especially the Season of Loneliness.

Some of you are thinking, “I can stop reading now because I’m not lonely.” Keep reading because one day you’re going to need this message. Loneliness in an inevitable season of life. You will go through it many, many times.

What Causes Loneliness

It is not good for man to be alone. Gen. 2:18

Genesis 2:18 says God made us to need each other, that we are made for relationships. When God put Adam in the Garden of Eden, He had every single thing he could want.  There were no stress or problems. God looked at Adam and said, “It’s not good for man to be alone.” The very first thing that God said is not right about the earth is loneliness.

Change Can Cause Loneliness

Life is a series of transitions. Any significant change in your life can cause isolation. Why? Because every time you experience change, be it good or bad, you are placed in an unfamiliar environment. With every change, you’re letting go something, and that can cause loneliness. Any new experience can cause loneliness.

[shareable cite=”CE Stowers”]Any major change in your life can cause isolation.[/shareable]

Opposition Can Cause Loneliness

When you’re under attack by others, you fall prey to loneliness. The loneliness of being opposed by other people is painful. Do you remember on the playground, as a child, kids would often gang up on the weakest kid on the playground. They would say incredibly mean things, hurtful things. They would all gang up. That person, I’m sure, must have felt very alone. Some of you were that person.

Someone said, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt.” That’s not true! Names hurt far more than sticks and stones. A broken bone will heal, but a broken emotion often take years and years to recover. Being alone is painful enough. But it hurts is when you’re going through a major pain and nobody else understands.

Rejection Can Cause Loneliness

Rejection is by far the most painful. It is the greatest of all. Especially when you feel like you’ve been betrayed, forsaken, or abandoned by those you thought you would be there forever.

You were designed by God with a deep emotional need to be accepted. If the truth were known, some you are dealing with the pain of rejection right now. People you thought were going to be loyal to you, were not. People you thought you could count on let you down. God feels it too. He sees it, and He cares about the heartache in your heart. He cares about how you feel.

[shareable cite=”CE Stowers”]You were designed by God with a deep emotional need to be accepted. [/shareable]

How to Curb Loneliness

Loneliness is so painful that we’ll try anything to get rid of it. People try to cure their loneliness with workaholism, materialism, alcoholism, or may even succumb to pornography. When you go through a season of loneliness you need to:

1. Make the best of a bad situation – Resist the temptation to do nothing. Take some action, any action. If life gives you a lemon, you make lemonade. You try to think of creative ways to take advantage of the times you’re alone. You can go back to school, travel, or learn a new skill. Ask yourself: What can I do now (when I’m lonely) that would be difficult to do with others around?
2. Rest in God’s Presence – When you’re lonely, where is God? He’s where He has always been, right beside you. He is with you even if you don’t feel it or not. Over and over in Scripture, the Bible says, if you have a relationship with Christ, God is with you all the time. He says:

I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.  John 14:18-21

He’s always with you. You’re never really fully alone. Loneliness is a time to become better acquainted with God. Recognize His presence. You will go through lonely times in your life, but you’ll never go through it alone.

[shareable cite=”CE Stowers”]Loneliness is a time to become better acquainted with God.[/shareable]