Loneliness

I hate to copy from someone else's blog very often and not be original in my own right, however, when someone has something so profound to offer I think it can be really helpful. Let's face it, we all run in different circles and passing things around is really the only way all of us have access to encouraging things. So I hope this nugget from a fellow biblical counselor can be of encouragement to you this day:

Some have implied, if not stated outright, that marriage is the solution to loneliness. But where does that leave a child who won't have that option for years? Or a prisoner with no hope of parole? Or an elderly widow? Maybe you're thinking they should be content with God alone, but Adam had God alone--without any sin whatsoever--and God said no, this is not good. And besides, aren't all of us--married or single--meant to find our contentment in Him? The notion that marriage is the solution to loneliness suggests that one category of people is potentially exempt from this experience, and the rest of us are just stuck with it. But that's not true. As a matter of fact, it was a married couple who first experienced loneliness. The real solution lies not in marriage, but in our union with Christ, which leads to our union with one another. When God created Eve, he created marriage, but more than that, he created community. . . . In our society today, we're big on family, but we tend to think of family in narrow terms--as in our own personal, nuclear families. But when someone told Jesus that his mother and brothers wanted to speak to him, he asked, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers? Whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother" (Matt. 12:48-50). Jesus redefined and enlarged the meaning of family. If marriage were God's answer to loneliness, why isn't there any giving or taking in marriage in heaven? That's a trick question because, actually, there is. But it's not individuals who are married in heaven; it is God's people corporately--the church, the bride of Christ--who will finally meet our bridegroom face to face.
"Loneliness: God's Remedy," by Jayne Clark, JBC (Fall 2005): 8-9.