Alone is a sermon teaching that you don’t have to be totally alone. God cares about you. He is with you. You can know the reality of His presence.
Key verses:
Genesis 2:18-25
I’m going to ask you to take your Bible and turn with me once again to Genesis. We were in Genesis this morning, Genesis 29. Now, I’m going to ask you to turn to Genesis chapter two. Lord willing, we will look at verses 18 to 25. To begin with, I just want us to read verse 18 and then, Lord willing, we’ll come back and read the rest of the chapter.
Genesis 2:18: “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”
I want to talk to you tonight about that one word “alone.”
Being Alone
We’ve been talking last night and this morning, today, about love. Somebody asked me if this has to do with Tuesday being Valentine’s Day. And I’m going to say that yes, it does have something to do with that. It lends itself to that topic, but these are things we need to talk about.
We talked about loving God, and we should. We talked about loving God. We sang the song this morning. We talked about the message. The song says, “Let us love our God supremely.” And we should love the Lord Jesus with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind.
Then we talked about people loving people. We talked about men and women loving each other. We need to talk about loving our children, our grandchildren, and other family members. And then other people, we need to love people in general. Every human being is created in the image of God, and we need to treat them as such. We need to care. So, this is good. Good things to talk about, good things to think about, good things to do.
But with all of this “loving people,” we need to understand and never forget that there are vast numbers of people who are alone. They do not have someone with who they might share their deepest thoughts, their fears, their joys, their good times, and their hard times; they are alone. No doubt some people choose to be alone. But I think I’m safe in saying that the great majority of people who are alone, did not choose that situation. It is not something they desire and if they could change it, they would change it.
If that’s you, if you’re in that situation, I encourage you to remember the words of Peter in 1 Peter 5:7, where he says:
1 Peter 5:7: “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
I remember a lady saying to me years ago, she was quite sincere, she said, “You know the trouble with this world is that nobody cares.” And I said to her, “You know, you’re wrong.” She kind of frowned and I said, “Jesus cares.” That’s why we sang that song earlier, “Does Jesus care? Oh, yes, He cares, I know He cares. His heart is touched with my grief.” So, Peter says, “Casting all your care upon him,” – put all your care upon Him because He does care for you.
Not Good to Be Alone
I want us to spend a few moments tonight in the scriptures and try to see that God knows that you are alone and that He cares that you are alone. Does it matter to Him? It does. So, we’re going to begin in Genesis and then I’ll share some other portions of scripture with you as we go along. But I want you to see what God has to say about being alone and He says a great deal about it.
Genesis 2 verse 18 is the first mention of people being alone. Let me share something with you. In your Bible study, I had last Sunday out on the table out there some sheets that were Bible study principles. I put that out there if you wanted, I don’t think they are still out there. A series of Bible study principles, what is this? These are principles when studying the Bible and help you remember along the way and help you understand as the Bible says, rightly divide the Word of truth, how we interpret things.
I was, some time ago, listening to a broadcast on the radio and I was driving the car and I was surprised to tell you the truth from what I heard. I knew this would be the position many, many years ago because it was quite the issue centuries ago. But I didn’t realize it was still the position. What I’m talking about is this, the Roman Catholic Church has the position that you cannot understand the Bible on your own. You need the church to interpret it for you.
Well, I totally disagree with that. That’s why we put out the Bible study principles. You can understand the Bible on your own. The Bible is written for you to understand. It is written for you to grow by and to know God. I encourage you to read the Bible. As you read and study there will be some things you may not understand. That’s okay. Keep reading, keep studying, so you’ll understand it.
“What if I live the rest of my life and there’s a question that never got answered?” Then after your life is over, you’ll get it answered, folks. Eventually, you are going to find that answer. But the first mentioned principle is one of those Bible study principles. So, the first time a person or event, or subject is mentioned in the Bible sets precedence for every other time it’s mentioned.
Here in Genesis 2:18, is the first time the word “alone” is used and it sets a precedence for any other time that word is used. God in Genesis two had finished His creation. And in Genesis 1:31, Moses wrote:
Genesis 1:31: “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
That tells us that everything God made was very good. There’s another great hymn that says God makes no mistakes. And that’s very true, God makes no mistakes. But in chapter 2:18, God said that something wasn’t good. Everything that He had made was good, but He said something wasn’t good. Now, let me help you with that.
God is not saying, “Oh, I made a mistake. I forgot something.” A wise man once said, “Did it ever occur to you that nothing ever occurred to God?” He’s not surprised by anything. There is nothing that you or I do or say or anyone else does that God says, “I didn’t see that coming.”
So, when God said that everything that was made was good and He says there is something that’s not good, that tells us that He planned to do something about that situation all along. He wasn’t surprised by it. He didn’t say whoops, made a mistake. He had a plan all the time. So, why does He say it is not good? Because He wants us to understand the principle. Remember that first mentioned principle, that there is something, not His will in this. Look at it again in verse 18:
Genesis 2:18: “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”
“And the LORD God said, It is not good” – what is not good? “It is not good that the man should be alone.” What God is telling us here is human beings are created, and by the way, we are created we did not evolve, we’re not accidents, we have a purpose to our life – we are created to be social beings. What does that mean? It means people need other people. We do. And we need to know other people, we need to get to other people, we need to interact with other people – people need other people.
So, God is good, and He created this world to be good. But then He says there’s something that is not good and that is that man should be alone. But right away, He tells us the solution to the problem. Now, many times you’ve heard this read this way, “I will make him an help meet for him.” Have you heard it that way? Raise your hand. Most of you have. The way we should read that is, “I will make a help, meet for him.” The word “meet” there is fit. I will make a person who is a help to this man who is fit for him, who fits him greatly.
So, God is saying that there is something not good, He created the world to be good. In the next chapter, chapter three sin enters into the world and corrupts the world, so that now not everything is good. But God created it to be good. Listen to some of these other scriptures.
Ecclesiastes 4:9: “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.”
“Two are better than one,” – doesn’t that go with what God said in verse 18? “It is not good that the man should be alone.” Solomon says centuries later:
Ecclesiastes 4:9: “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.”
Ecclesiastes 4:10: “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.”
That’s kind of sensible, isn’t it? Why are two better than one? When you’re with somebody, you fall, you have somebody there to help you. If you’re all by yourself and you fall, maybe there is nobody there to help you.
There used to be a television commercial that was on decades ago and people still make fun of it. I watched that commercial and I never thought it was funny, not for one bit. It was advertising a device that if you needed it, a medical device, you could press a button and you could call for help. But what people mocked and made fun of was there’s a lady in the commercial lying on the floor and she hits this device and says, “Help, I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up.” People made all kinds of fun out of that. I never thought it was funny. Never did. Why? I’ve known too many people that it happened to. I’ve known too many people who have fallen and couldn’t get up. In some cases, they weren’t found in time. To me, there is nothing funny about that.
That’s what Solomon is talking about when he 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.” That’s why two are better than one.
God understands the situation of being alone even better than you and I understand it. Somebody may be sitting right now thinking, “Well, preacher, I understand it better than you because I’m alone and you’re not.” Well, you’re right, and I’m thankful for that. For most of my life I’ve not been alone.
But there were times in my life when I have been alone. As a matter of fact, I can remember very distinctly when I was a younger man, much younger than I am now, but I don’t mean a teenager, I was in my late twenties, and I just surrendered that whole situation to God. I said, “Lord if you want me to be alone, I’ll be alone. If you want me to be married, I’ll be married. But whatever you want is what I want.”
Do you know why I prayed that way? I wasn’t trying to be Mr. Super Spiritual, I was trying to say, “Lord, I trust you to know what’s best for me and I want to do your will.” So, God understands the situation better than you and I do.
Creating an Help Meet
But the Lord did not leave this part of His creation incomplete. He said, again, “I will make an help that is meet for him.” Now, look at verse 19. Adam was not idle. This is an important thing to understand in this story. Adam didn’t sit around in the Garden of Eden, and he had nothing to do. He’d sit around and say that there’s nothing to do, wish there was another human being because maybe I can have somebody to do something with, there’s nothing for me to do. That wasn’t the situation. How do I know? I read it. Look at verse 19:
Genesis 2:19: “And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.”
Genesis 2:20: “And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.”
Let me help you understand that. Adam was busy naming all the creatures. What did he have to do that? Because they were all brand new and didn’t have names. He’s the first man, and he gets to name them. There are a lot of Adam and Eve jokes and I’ll tell you I like Adam and Eve jokes. One is that Eve came to Adam one day and said, “Honey, do you love me?” He said, “Who else?”
But the truth of the matter is he was busy. He was busy doing this. He had work to do and to occupy his time and it kept him going. Then we find at the end of verse 20, “But for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.”
So, he was naming all these other animals. I got a friend who made a joke about that. He says, “Can you imagine, here’s Adam naming all the animals, you know, elephant, alligator, all these different names. He comes to one little one and says he’ll give it a short name, Fly.” But he looks at all the animals God has created, and he says, “You know, there’s not a one of them that’s like me. There is not one of them that is the same as I am.” And there isn’t. There is not another creature in all this world that is like a human being.
I often think of the verse in Acts where it says, “God has made of one blood all nations.” All human beings have one blood. No other creature here on earth has human blood or approximates human blood. I thought this a long time ago. I did some research on it to find out if I was right. The research bears it out. You cannot take a blood transfusion from an animal. It doesn’t work. Why? It’s not human blood. Human beings are unique. We didn’t evolve from lower forms. We are unique creations of God.
Adam looks around, and he doesn’t see anyone. So, as he names these animals, he doesn’t see one like him. And so, as God says, there was not an help meet for him. So, someone will likely think, “Yeah, preacher, you’re about to talk about that rib thing.” I am. Look at it:
Genesis 2:21: “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;”
“And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept,” – God invented anesthesia for surgery.
Genesis 2:21: “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;”
Genesis 2:22: “And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.”
That’s where someone is going to get skeptical. “Okay, God made a woman out of a rib. Really? Seriously? Do you believe that?” Yes, I do. Number one: I believe the Bible, and if the Bible says that is what God did, then that is what God did. Number two: A lot of people who would scoff at God making a woman from a rib have no problem accepting what I’m about to share with you.
This is from the National Museum of Natural History. Have you heard of that? I’m pretty sure you have. Here it is from the National Museum of Natural History, an article titled, “How They Cloned a Sheep.” Scientists took udder cells from Dolly’s DNA mother. They let the cells multiply, and then they stopped the process when they had divided enough. They took an egg cell from a different sheep and removed its nucleus. They put one udder cell next to the egg without a nucleus and joined them using electricity.
The egg cell now contains all the udder cell’s DNA. The egg cell divided until it developed into an embryo. An embryo is the early stage of an animal before it has been born or hatched. This embryo was placed inside a third sheep. Five months later, this sheep gave birth to Dolly. By the way, Dolly didn’t live very long.
Maybe you don’t remember that, but they did. Scientists cloned a sheep. They did it with one cell, two cells, and three cells. They had three cells, and they cloned a sheep. Human beings can clone a sheep with three cells, and you think God can’t make a woman out of a whole rib. How much DNA is in a rib? I don’t know, but a lot more than in three cells of a sheep. Here’s the thing. It’s not ridiculous, and it’s not absurd. I just gave you a great illustration of that.
The First Wedding
So, God gives the first wedding. We talked about that this morning. The first wedding was in the Garden of Eden. Can I share something with you? It may not be of great interest to you, but it is to me. I’ve looked in the Bible and tried to see who performed weddings in the Bible. For the most part, it doesn’t say.
Jesus went to the wedding in Cana. Did He perform the wedding? It doesn’t say that He did. From what it does say, it doesn’t appear that He did. We talked about the wedding this morning between Jacob and Rachel. Who performed that wedding? It talks about the celebration. So, who performed the wedding? It doesn’t say. It never says who performed weddings in the Bible. We assume that in many cases, the priest would have performed a wedding, but it never says that. We’re not told who performed weddings in the Bible.
So, since the Bible doesn’t say, and today, pastors have the authority to perform weddings. A pastor can perform a wedding, and a notary can perform a wedding. I’m a pastor, and my wife’s a notary. The point I’m trying to get across to you is this. The Bible doesn’t say that the minister has to perform weddings.
The state law in the State of Florida, and laws vary from state to state, and I’m much more familiar with the laws in the State of Florida than anywhere else. But the law in the State of Florida states that I, as an ordained minister, may perform weddings. It doesn’t say I have to, isn’t that interesting?
So, I did some study on that years ago, and I came to a conclusion. The Bible doesn’t say that I have to perform weddings. The state says I can perform weddings but doesn’t say I have to. So, if figure it’s up to me whether I perform a wedding or not. It’s my option. I’m not trying to be a wise guy or anything, but there is no law, no scripture that says I have to perform weddings. Again, it says I can, but it doesn’t say I have to. So, it’s my choice. Does that matter? It does matter. Because today, a lot of people try to force people to do things they don’t want to do. It’s not what the law says. It’s certainly not what the Bible says.
So, God makes the woman of a rib and the first wedding, the first marriage, and the establishment of the first family. Look at it in verse 23. God brings her to Adam:
Genesis 2:23: “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
Where does Adam get off getting to name her? Well, he got to name everybody else, didn’t he? I guess he got to name her too.
Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
Genesis 2:25: “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
Now, that plays into the next chapter. But look at verse 24 again. Adam says:
Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
That’s the exact words here that Adam spoke. You’ll see those precise words two other times in scripture. This is the first time. The first mentioned principle. The second time is in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 19, where Jesus is asked about marriage, and He quotes the same words precisely. The third time is in Ephesians chapter five, where Paul is talking about how husbands should love their wives.
Three times, three of the major characters of the Bible, Adam, the Lord Jesus, and Paul, say the same thing. All of them speak by the direction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If God says something once in the Bible, it’s important. If He says those same exact words three times with three of the most prominent people in the Bible saying those words, it’s very important.
Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
The first marriage, the first family. Now, the man is not alone. Back in verse 18, “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone.” Now the man is not alone. Now, he has a companion. That was the cure for Adam being alone.
Let me share something with you, and I’m not trying to be silly here, but I mean it. If you are lonely, that is probably not how God is going to solve the issue for you. He’s probably not going to create a whole new person for you.
Jesus Experienced Being Alone
But let me ask you a question. Do you think God cares less for you than He did for Adam? I guarantee you He doesn’t.
“Do you mean I’m as important as Adam? He was the first man ever.” Yes, he was. “Am I as important as Adam?” Yes, you are because every human being is created in the image of God. You are just as important to God as Adam is, and the Lord cares about you.
Now, not only is the Lord aware of your situation, He has experienced it. “What do you mean He’s experienced it? How did He experience it?” First of all, think about this. There are several of the major characters in the Bible prominent people who were never married. As far as we know, and we don’t know for sure, but as far as we know, John the Baptist was never married. No mention of him ever being married. No mention of him ever having children. I think it would be great if he had children and he had descendants around, and you get to meet one of them. Wouldn’t that be great? “My great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was John the Baptist.” But there’s no indication of that, none whatsoever.
Scholars debate about the Apostle Paul. Some think he was married and that he was a widower. That may be true. His wife, if he had one, is never mentioned. We do know this. At the time when he wrote 1 Corinthians, he was not married. How do I know? We read the seventh chapter, and it tells us that. Paul was not married when he wrote 1 Corinthians. Had he been married? Some people think so, and it’s possible. We don’t know that for sure.
What we do know for sure is that the Lord Jesus was not married. He lived His entire time on earth as not being married. And yet, He was not alone. We’ll see that here in just a moment. But when I say He’s experienced the situation, listen to this. This is Hebrews 4:14-16:
Hebrews 4:14: “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.”
Hebrews 4:15: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
He is not one who is not touched by what we feel. He endured the same kind of temptations that you endure. Why? He took on the form of a man, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. “In all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
He didn’t give in to those temptations. Where does it say that He got tempted? Matthew chapter four. The writer of Hebrews goes on:
Hebrews 4:16: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
What that passage is telling us is that the Lord has experienced pain and hurt and loneliness just like you have. So, somebody says, “Preacher, when did He do that? When did He suffer loneliness?” Alright, good question. Let’s get an answer. Gospel of John chapter 16, verses 32 and 33, Jesus said this:
John 16:32: “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.”
Speaking to His disciples the night before the crucifixion, when the soldiers of Herod came to arrest Him in the garden, He was alone. The Bible says they all forsook Him and fled. There was nobody there with him. Nobody stood with Him. John was the closest for a while. He was there and witnessed part of the trial of Jesus. Peter, it says, followed afar off, but nobody stood with Him. We find John again at the cross. But at the cross, Peter is not mentioned. We don’t know where Peter was at that time. You know what? Other than John, we don’t know where any of the apostles were when Jesus was crucified. They may have been there, but it does not say that at all. The only one it mentions there is John. He was alone.
Although His friends were gone, He still had the Father with Him. Let me read to you verse 32 again:
John 16:32: “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.”
You don’t have to be totally alone. God cares about you. He is with you. You can know the reality of His presence. Then, in verse 33, the Lord tells us to put our trust in Him. Our trust that we put in Him, He says:
John 16:33: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
What is He saying? He’s saying that you are going to have trouble in this life. You will; it’s guaranteed; it’s promised to you. You’ll have trouble. “But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” He is greater than the world. Jesus knows what it is to be alone, and even beyond the fact that His friends left Him in time of need, He really knows what it is to be alone. How do you know that? Again, go to the scripture, Matthew 27:45-46. Talk about being alone; listen to this:
Matthew 27:45: “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.”
Matthew 27:46: “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
You talk about alone? That’s alone. David gives us more about that statement when he prophetically wrote in Psalm 22:1-5:
Psalm 22:1: “(To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.) My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”
Psalm 22:2: “(O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.”
Psalm 22:3: “(But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”
Psalm 22:4: “(Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.”
Psalm 22:5: “(They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.”
Jesus was alone on the cross. Now, why would the Father forsake the Son?
2 Corinthians 5:21: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
At that moment on the cross with His friends gone and He cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Why? Because at that moment, He bore all the sins of all people for all time, and a holy God turned away from that sin. He was alone.
So, when it says He was tempted in all points as we are, it’s exactly what it means. He knows what that feels like. He knows what it is like to go through that and to endure. In Romans 11:2-5, Paul reminds us of Elijah in 1 Kings 19, and I encourage you to read 1 Kings 19, the whole chapter. I think it will help you. I really do.
Elijah felt totally alone. He had been preaching, and he had that great experience, that mountain top experience, where he challenged the prophets of Baal, and they did not answer. They cried to their god, Baal. They cut themselves, they cried all day long, and there was no answer. Elijah waits until they are finished and then utters a prayer of just a few words. God answers by fire, and then after that, as old Lester Roloff said, “Elijah turned Baal into a ‘non-prophet’ organization.” But he had been faithful, and he served the Lord well. But after all of that, do you know what happened? The queen of Israel, the queen, had soldiers sent out to kill him. Again, read 1 Kings chapter 19 for more of that story.
But in Romans 11:2-5, Paul makes the point that God does not abandon His people and he hasn’t abandoned you. God has not cast away, Paul writes:
Romans 11:2: “God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,”
Romans 11:3: “Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.”
I’ve been faithful, Lord. I’ve been serving you, Lord, and now I am alone, and my life is in danger. And there’s nobody left to stand with me. Paul goes on:
Romans 11:4: “But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.”
Romans 11:5: “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”
What God was saying to Elijah and what Paul is saying is you feel like you are the only one, but you are not. There are others. There are other people like you who are going through the same thing that you go through. Your heart ached. Your heart has been broken. If you’ve been betrayed, if you’ve been abandoned, if you have been neglected, if you, absolutely no fault of your own, find yourself alone, turn to the Lord Jesus. He knows. He cares. He’s been there too.
Biblical Solutions for Being Alone
I want to close with some practical suggestions.
Number one: If you are alone, remember Proverbs 18:24:
Proverbs 18:24: “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”
There are two parts to that promise. Number one, if you want to have friends you must be a friendly person. Have you ever heard someone say that you can be alone in a crowd? It’s true. You can. You can be alone in a crowd. You can be totally alone in a crowd. You can be alone in a crowd. You can. There could be hundreds of people, thousands around you, and you’d still be alone.
But if you are going to have friends, you have to show yourself friendly. You have to make an effort. If you just wait for other people to come and reach out to you, you may wait a long time. It’s not that nobody else cares. It’s that people are preoccupied. Sometimes, they don’t see the need. They should see the need. You’re right. They should. But sometimes they don’t.
And folks, what I’m trying to get across to you is you need to be the person who takes the first step. “How do you get off saying that, preacher?” Because the Bible says it. “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly.”
The second part of that promise is this. And by the way, if you say, “I tried to be friendly, but nobody wants to be my friend.” I get it. So does God. The second part is, “there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” If you don’t have a friend in this world, you can’t think of any friend that you have in this whole world remember that you have a friend that is out of this world.
Take the advice of the hymn writer Jeremiah E. Rankin, “Are you weary, are you heavy hearted? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus; Are you grieving over joys departed? Tell it to Jesus alone. Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus, He is a friend that’s well known; You’ve no other such a friend or brother, Tell it to Jesus alone.”
Number two: Give your loneliness to the Lord.
Go to Him in prayer, pour your heart out to Him, call on Him, and ask Him to surrender your loneliness to Him. Pray like this; this is what I did. Pray and say, “Lord, if you want me to be alone, I will. I will be alone. If you don’t want me to be alone, help me to find a way to be with others.”
The Bible talks, particularly in the New Testament, it talks a great deal about fellowship. And we have fellowship one with another, the Bible says. You can have fellowship anywhere. Somebody wisely said, “The definition of fellowship is two fellows in the same ship.” It kind of makes sense, doesn’t it? If you are on the same ship, you are going to the same place, aren’t you?
You can fellowship anywhere. Jesus said, “Where two or three of you are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst.” So, anytime you are with two or three people, and you are talking about things of the Lord’s, you’re having fellowship.
That’s not what we think. We think if we go out and have cake and coffee, that’s fellowship. That’s not fellowship. It’s fun, but it’s not fellowship, not by itself. Fellowship is if the Lord is included in it. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst.” The Lord wants us to fellowship with each other. How do we know that? Because He said so, “It is not good that the man should be alone.” He wants us to fellowship with other people. So, pray and ask the Lord to help you find a way to be with others.
And then spend time with Him. Spend time in prayer. Spend time in His word. I heard a fellow on the radio, and I think it was yesterday. He was talking about David Brainerd. Maybe you know David Brainerd, maybe you don’t. He was the son-in-law of the man who preached of sinners in the hands of an angry God and started the Great Awakening. David Brainerd was a missionary to the Native Americans that we would say today. He was a godly man. He didn’t live to be an old man. He died at a relatively young age. But they said that he would spend hours and hours in prayer.
Most of you know I’m originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee. There’s a section of town up there that is called Brainerd. It’s named after him. Is that where he is from? No, he was not ministering there. He was ministering north of there. But they named that section of town after him, Brainerd.
One day, many years ago, I was driving through the parking lot of a shopping mall called the East Gate Mall. The building is still there, but it’s something else now. But I was driving through the parking lot and noticed an unusual structure right there in the middle of the parking lot. What is that? There was a low stone wall around it, and on top of the low stone wall, an iron picket fence. I said, “What is this in the middle of the shopping mall parking lot?”
I parked my car and got out. I walked up to it. Do you know what it is? It’s a cemetery. Why is there a cemetery in the middle of a shopping mall parking lot? The gate was open, and I went into the cemetery. It is the cemetery of the old mission to the Native Americans, called the Brainerd Mission, named for David Brainerd. And the tombstones in there, some of them you can’t even read anymore. Time has worn the names off of them. But the ones you can read were the missionaries to the Native Americans of the old Brainerd Mission. God used David Brainerd in a great way, and he spent hours and hours in prayer. God used him greatly.
Then spend time with God in His Word. You spend time with Him in prayer, and you’re fellowshipping with God. You spend time in His Word, and He’ll speak to you. You can have a two-way conversation. You talk to Him in prayer, and He’ll talk to you through His Word. Get close to Him.
Then number three: Keep yourself busy.
I had a good friend of mine, he was a mechanic for decades, and he’s retired now. But in the last few years that he worked, he had his own shop. He had terrible, terrible back pain. And yet, he would get up and open his shop every morning at seven o’clock and work all day and then go home. I asked him one day, and I said, “You have this awful back pain. How do you come in here and work all day with that back pain?” Listen to what he said. This is important. He said, “Because I am working, I don’t think about it.” Get hold of that. When I’m working, I don’t think about it.
What am I saying? I’m saying to keep yourself busy. Keep yourself busy and you will not think so much about the problems that you have.
And then, get in church as much as you are able. Try to see if there is some way you can serve others. I said that. Try to see how you can serve others. You could be thinking, “Yeah, but I’m the one who is hurting. I’m the one who needs somebody to minister to me.” I understand that I do. I’m not trying to add to your burden. I’m not trying to minimize your burden.
I heard another pastor years ago tell this story. He said he was in his study one day, and he was just absolutely overwhelmed with problems. Does it happen to pastors? It does. This pastor said he was absolutely overwhelmed with problems when somebody knocked on the door. He got up and opened the door, welcomed them in, and they sat down. They told him their problem. He said that he prayed with them, and they left. And then somebody else came to the door, and they sat down and told him their problems. He said that went on for most of the day. He said that at the end of the day, he couldn’t remember what his problems were. Is that a true story? It is. I knew that preacher well. He preached in this pulpit.
But help others who are also hurt. As you do that, you may find some of your will pain go away. So, ask the Lord what He would have you do to serve Him.
Then: Memorize the promises of the Word of God and take comfort in them.
Like what, for example? Well, Mark 11:22:
Mark 11:22: “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.”
That’s an easy one to memorize, isn’t it?
Mark 11:22: “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.”
Matthew 21:22: “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”
Key word is “believing.”
Then finally: Trust God that someday your loneliness will end. Because it, too, is temporary. I’m not saying you don’t have it. I’m not saying it’s not real. I’m not saying it’s not a need. But it’s temporary.
~~~~~~~
Let us pray. Father, thank you so much for blessing us. Thank you so much for your Word and the truth that we can learn in it. And Lord, when we are alone, and all of us know, some of us better than others, all of us know what it’s like to be alone. And yet, as you said, “I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” Help us, Lord, to draw our strength from you. Help us, Lord, to be used by you. Help us, Lord, to be a blessing to others.
Our heads are bowed, and our eyes are closed. We come to the invitation time of the service. If you need prayer, I want you to come. If you need to talk, I want you to come. Maybe you can just pray on your own, maybe you can sit where you are and pray on your own. But however the Lord is speaking to you, I want you to respond.
Father, bless and move in this invitation time we do pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Watch the prerecorded live version of the entire service and sermon, Alone, on Facebook.
Alone — Related Sermons
You may also want to listen to or view these sermons:
About the Speaker
Dr. Michael L. McClure
Senior Pastor
Dr. Michael L. McClure, our lead pastor, is known for his in-depth knowledge and effective teaching style of biblical truths applicable to everyday living.