Due to the novel coronavirus, Americans across the nation are now forced to stay at home. Some like me will have to spend the majority of their time alone. Since arriving home, I have been thinking about Bible characters who spent time alone. Paul is the first one who came to mind. How many times was he writing a letter from jail? Yet he learned a valuable lesson of perseverance, cheerfulness, and trusting in God’s plan. Joseph also spent time in prison, away from his family in a foreign country and falsely accused. Adam was the first person to ever feel loneliness even whilst living in a perfect world.
Perhaps the biggest example of loneliness is Jesus. Desire of Ages says from the time Jesus was small he carried a burden that only he understood. His brothers thought he was annoying, his neighbors never truly welcomed him, and his earthly parents couldn’t understand him. As an adult, his closest friends abandoned him in his moment of greatest need. Jesus continually loved everyone around without ever truly receiving it himself. His communication with the Father sustained him. It was only when he was forced to drink that cup that loneliness engulfed him. On the cross he cried out “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” or in other words “Why have you left me?” Then he died.
Jesus knows what loneliness feels like. He can identify with the shut-ins who can never see the grandchildren, the mothers in hospitals isolated from their babies, the latch-key kids who rarely see their parents. He is with them. He is the friend who sticks closer than a brother. However, now is a special opportunity to reach out to those who are shut in. This past Sabbath, Oklahoma Academy students called shut-ins and sang to them. At home, others are connecting with friends that they haven't spoken to in years. Even in a time where everyone is isolated, technology is bringing people together. Don’t let anyone walk alone, and if you are alone take heart. In this world you may have trials but Jesus has overcome every obstacle; even loneliness.