We Weren't Made to Live Alone--Purpose Driven Life Devotional

We Weren’t Made To Live Alone
by Rick Warren

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is like him.” (Genesis 2:18 HCSB)

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Today’s devotional is from Pastor Rick Warren.

If I were to ask you what you considered to be the most common emotional hurt in people, what would you say: Depression? Anxiety? Guilt?

How about loneliness?

After all the pastoral conversations I’ve had over the last 30 years, I’m certain loneliness is not only common to us all; it’s epidemic. I first noticed this when people who were married would come to me for pastoral care, saying they were lonely – extremely lonely.

It may surprise you that it is not all that uncommon for a husband and wife to not really talk to each other. Yet loneliness emerges in a lot of different situations. It may arise from the death of a loved one or the death – by divorce – of your marriage.

Maybe you feel abandoned by someone you relied on or perhaps your work keeps you on the road, forcing you to spend lonely nights in a motel. Or maybe it’s because you’ve just moved to a new neighborhood, and you don’t know a soul.

The evidence of loneliness in our modern world is in the dial-in chat lines, where people pay by the minute to talk to a stranger. Ironically, the Internet connects millions of people around the world, and yet the end result is anonymity and isolation.

Have you ever wondered why we all have the capacity to feel lonely?

It’s because God made us to need each other. In other words, we don’t like to live alone because we weren’t made to live alone. The Bible teaches that, even when Adam was living in paradise – a perfect setting with no problems, no stress, no sin, and no one creating heartaches for others – God could see that it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone. (Genesis 2:18)

What does this mean?

There are several biblical ways to reduce the pain of loneliness:

· God gives you a plan – You may feel nobody knows the depth of your loneliness and think, “If I were to drop off the face of the earth, nobody would miss me.” Yet we know from the Bible that God created you, that he knows you by name, and that he put you on this earth for a purpose. When you focus on God’s plan for your life, you’ll find yourself feeling less lonely.

· God gives you others to serve – I’m convinced that part of God’s plan for overcoming loneliness is to get the focus off ourselves and, instead, to pour ourselves into other people’s lives by serving them and giving them your talents and gifts. I’d encourage you to take the initiative and get involved with a small group of people who share similar interests. Within that group, you’re likely to make real friendships.

God gives you his presence – We were made to have an intimate, personal and close relationship with God. No person, experience, drug, success, possession – not even fortune or fame – will fill that aching hole in your heart, a place God created for himself. God is everywhere; there’s no place in the universe where God is not. Knowing that can relieve your loneliness. Regardless of the source of your loneliness, God is right there with you. You’re never truly alone – and when you feel lonely, you can call on him to help conquer your loneliness.

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