Dealing with Loneliness in Serving God

2 Timothy 4:16

At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

Loneliness is a real thing that many will have to deal with if they are going to serve God successfully. The greatest battle you will face is the battle of feeling alone because you stood for right. It is in those times when you stand alone that Satan will attempt to get you to compromise what you believe for the sake of having friends and not feeling alone.

Paul understood this lonely feeling. He says, At my first answer no man stood with me… Paul knew what it was like to stand for right and to have everyone around him leave. However, Paul never allowed the loneliness that he found in serving God to cause him to leave the old paths. Paul served God successfully in the lonely times, as he did in the times when everyone stood with him.

The lonely times of life can certainly weigh on your spirit and on your faith in God. It is critical that you address loneliness properly so you don't become negative in spirit or backslide from the truth. Let me share several things I do to deal with loneliness because of serving God.

First, I don't need a crowd to justify my way of living. You will never serve God successfully if you need the crowd as your justification for doing right. Those who live successfully find that they will often stand alone, but their justification for what they do does not come from the crowd, but from the truth of God's Word. Don't get your orders from what the popular crowd says; get them from God's Word, and let your solace come from obedience to God.

Second, I don't question God in times of loneliness. You will find throughout the Scriptures that many people experienced lonely times because of doing right, but those whom God used the greatest are those who never questioned God and what He wanted them to do. Whatever you do, do not put God on trial. God is good whether you are running with the crowd or are standing alone because of truth. Just because others have left you standing alone does not change the goodness of God. God is good when the whole world stands with you, and He is good when the whole world has left you; never question God and what He is doing in your life, and you will deal with the lonely times successfully.

Third, I keep doing what I did before the lonely times came. I read my Bible as I did before. I pray as I did before. I go soul winning as I did before. I live my life as I did before. I don't change what I do because everyone has left me. If doing right caused everyone to leave me, then I keep doing right for right’s sake, and not for the crowd’s sake.

Fourth, I take solace in the fact that God never leaves me nor forsakes me. When everyone else leaves me, I still have God, and as long as I have God, I have the only presence that brings true joy in life. Always look to God, and it will not matter if you are alone or if you stand with the crowd, because God is the presence that you truly need in your life.

Fifth, I do works that silences the crowd. I have learned one thing: if I do great works of faith, those works of faith will justify my stand for right. I don't defend myself; I let the works that I do defend me. If you will attempt something big for God, the crowd that has left you will look foolish when your works justify your actions and beliefs.