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22nd January 2026
ThursdayReflection
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'Joshua J Masters offers'
a pastor, author, and international speaker
"Biblical Encouragement for
those who feel alone".
.... Psalm 46:10
Overcoming Loneliness: It's not uncommon for people to feel alone in a crowd of people,
but that's not what God intended for us.
Scripture calls us to draw close to God and one another,
but we isolate ourselves in a sea of other people.
Even in the most inviting environments, we can feel like we're on
the outside looking in.
It's as if we're adrift on a raft surrounded by salt water.
We crave the fresh water of deep relationships, but nothing around us
seems sufficient or safe.
That's how the enemy convinces us to slowly and painfully die from
relational dehydration.
Here are some of the best Bible verses for overcoming loneliness
along with encouragement for those of us who feel alone.
Yet, it's not enough to read through these passages.
We can easily seek the promises of Scripture without living them.
Overcoming loneliness requires us to settle our spirits,
to be still and know God (Psalm 46:10).
Try to read these verses slowly, meditate on them one at a time,
and ask God to help you experience these truths rather than
simply learning them.
Then the Lord God said,
"It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a helper who is just right for him."
(Genesis 2:18 NLT)
The first mention of loneliness in the Bible is God's rebuke
of it. In our loneliness, we should remember it's not God's overall
plan for our lives. He may call us to times of solitude, but His
desire is for us to have close and helpful relationships.
Who is God providing to defeat your feeling of being alone?
If you don't know, ask Him.
The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.
He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the
broken-hearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
(Psalm 34: NLT)
When loneliness threatens to crush our spirit,
we need to lean into that sorrow,
calling out to God for help.
The lie of loneliness is that it's a burden we can't set down.
We believe loneliness is based on how others view us,
so there's nothing we can do about it.
But that's not true or biblical.
Loneliness is actually about the way we view ourselves and
our relationship with God.
See Psalm 27:3-5 TPT
We base part of our loneliness on faulty expectations of this life
rather than living in the perfect expectation of our eternal life.
When we find ourselves discouraged by earthly abandonment
(whether real or perceived), can we refocus our desire,
as the psalmist wrote, to crave the
"privilege of living with Him every moment"
rather than seeking a fleeting human comfort?
If we can learn to do that, we'll release our unattainable
expectations of other people and encourage one another,
as our next verse reminds us.
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and
good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit
of doing, but encouraging one another -
and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
(Hebrews 10 NIV)
As we seek God in our loneliness, we're also called to seek out other
believers in encouragement - finding others to travel with on the
road of Christian living.
Some of us look at this verse and think,
Well, I'm always the one doing the encouraging.
I feel alone because no one is giving anything back.
If that's true, one of two things is happening:
either your attitude is wrong or
you're with the wrong group of people.
Notice that this verse says "one another."
It's one of the most popular phrases in the New Testament.
It's used over a hundred times.
So if you primarily live one-way relationships,
it's time to evaluate those relationships.
We need to seek fellowship with people who will encourage us as we
encourage them. Don't confuse co-dependency for ministry.
The primary reason our enemy wants us to feel lonely is to distract us
from the purpose God has in our lives.
Each of us has divine assignments that give eternal meaning to our
seemingly temporary lives.
The enemy doesn't want us to feel empowered in Jesus to fulfill those
assignments, so he whispers words of insufficiency and isolation
into our ears. But we are never alone in those assignments.
Remember
...neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8: NIV)
No matter what our enemy whispers.
We are never alone.
Joshua J. Masters
is a pastor, author, and
international speaker with a heart for leading through encouragement
and relationship building-creating a culture where we pursue a deeper,
healing relationship with Christ as we develop a consuming compassion
for the hurting and lost together.
Josh has a heart for local and global outreach and serves as the
Board of Directors Vice-Chair for Bridge Builders International.
Josh is honoured to be on staff at Brookwood Church
This is an edited version.
The full article and Bible references are avaiable on request
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