It Is Not Good for Man to Be Alone
Real Struggles With Real Solutions • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction — God Declared loneliness “Not Good” (Gen. 2:18).
Genesis 2:18 records one of the most surprising statements in Scripture:
18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
Before sin entered the world...
Before death, pain, or brokenness existed...
Before the serpent ever spoke...
God looked at a perfect man in a perfect garden with a perfect relationship with a perfect God — and said something was not good.
What was not good?
Aloneness.
This means loneliness is not a flaw in us.
It is not a weakness.
It is not a spiritual failure.
It is a reminder that God created us for connection.
From the very beginning, God made us social beings.
We were created for relationship with Him and with one another.
Loneliness hurts because it violates the way we were made.
Body:
God Created Us for Relationship.
We Are Made in the Image of a Relational God.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
The plural language points to the eternal fellowship within the Godhead.
God was not alone when he created man.
God is relational by nature — and God made us to reflect that nature.
From eternity the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have always been together.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
We were created to share in this image and to be one with Them.
Jesus prayed three times for us to be one with the Godhead in His prayer in John 17.
11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. 20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
God Designed Human Companionship.
18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
Even with God’s presence, Adam needed human connection.
Though God desires for us to be perfectly one with Him, He still gave us a need for human connection.
Loneliness is not solved by “being strong” or “toughing it out.”
It is solved only in one way by human connection.
No one can live this life all by themselves.
God solved Adam’s problem by making Eve.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
God Established the Family and the Church as Relational Gifts.
Psalm 68:6 “6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.”
The New American Standard Bible says...
6 God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
Acts 2:42-47 — The early church lived in deep fellowship.
God’s answer to loneliness has always been people.
Loneliness is a Universal Human Experience.
Biblical Heroes Experienced Loneliness.
David —Psalm 25:16 “16 Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, For I am desolate and afflicted.”
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, For I am lonely and afflicted.
Elijah — 1 Kings 19:10 “10 So he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.””
Jeremiah — Jeremiah 16:1–2 “1 The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, 2 “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.””
Jeremiah was forbidden to marry and often isolated.
Paul — 2 Timothy 4:16–17 “16 At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. 17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.”
Jesus — Matthew 27:46 “46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?””
Loneliness is not a sign of spiritual immaturity.
It is part of the human condition — even for the faithful.
God Meets Us in Our Loneliness
God Promises His Presence
Hebrews 13:5 “5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.””
Psalm 34:18 “18 The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.”
Matthew 28:20 “20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”
Loneliness may whisper, You are alone, but God declares, I am with you.
Jesus Understands Loneliness
Hebrews 4:15 “15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Isaiah 53:3 “3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”
Jesus knows what it feels like to be abandoned, misunderstood, and rejected.
He is the perfect High Priest for the lonely.
God Uses Loneliness to Draw Us Closer
Psalm 73:23–26 “23 Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. 24 You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. 26 My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
When our hearts fail; God is to be our strength.
Psalm 46:1 “1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.”
Hebrews 4:16 “16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
God can be the cure to loneliness if you will allow Him.
Loneliness can become a doorway to deeper intimacy with God.
God Calls the Church to Be the Cure for Loneliness.
We Are Called to Be There for One Another.
Bear one another’s burdens — Gal. 6:2
Bear with the weak —Rom. 15:1
To weep with those who weep — Rom. 12:15
The church is not a building but a family.
We Are Called to Encourage One Another.
Hebrews 10:24 “24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,”
1 Thessalonians 5:11 “11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”
Loneliness thrives in isolation.
Healing thrives in fellowship.
We Must Be Intentional About Community.
Acts 2:46 — Daily... from house to house
John 13:34-35 — Love is the mark of discipleship.
This is more than a mere emotion.
Here is love.
The church must be a place where no one sits alone, suffers alone, or walks alone.
Practical Steps for Overcoming Loneliness
Reach Up — Seek God
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
Prayer
Scripture
Worship
Reach In — Examine Your Heart
5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
Are you withdrawing?
Are you believing lies about your worth?
Are you carrying unresolved hurt?
Reach Out — Build Godly Relationships
9 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Join a class or small group
Serve in a ministry
Invite someone to lunch
Check o n someone who is hurting
Sometimes the cure for loneliness is helping someone else who is lonely.
Conclusion:
From the beginning, God declared:
18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
He created us for relationship.
He placed us in families.
He built the church as a spiritual household.
He promised His presence to uphold us.
Loneliness is real — but it is not final.
It is painful —but it is not permanent.
It is heavy — but God carries it with us.
In Christ, no one has to walk alone.
1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
