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THE GIANT OF LONELINESS (5)

by Donald Cantrell

Scripture: Psalms 25:16
This content is part of a series.


Title: The Giant of Loneliness (5)
Series: Grappling With Giants
Author: Donald Cantrell
Text: Psalms 25:16

Psa 25:16 KJV - Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I [am] desolate and afflicted.

"Grappling With Giants" Sermon Series - Sermon 5

I - The Cruel Clutches of Loneliness

II - The Crippling Causes of Loneliness

III - The Crucial Cures of Loneliness

This sermon contains a fully alliterated outline, with subpoints.

Lone People

All the lonely people, where do they all come from?
All the lonely people, where do they all belong?

The Beatles, "Eleanor Rigby"

A few years ago, when I was the attending emergency physician working in the emergency department, the senior medical resident asked permission to discharge an older man. The resident was convinced the patient was a malingerer, having been seen multiple times in the last week at the medical clinic with "shortness of breath."

The patient had multiple tests, scans, and more - all normal - and yet here he was again, in the emergency department complaining of continued difficulty breathing. "Wait," I said. "There must be a reason that he keeps coming back. Let me take a look at him with you."

We entered the room, and saw an old man, shrunken in the corner with no animation in his face. He looked forlorn, so I asked, "Are you sad?" He burst into tears and told me that his partner of more than 20 years had died a week ago; he was devastated.

His real condition? Not shortness of breath, not crying wolf to get attention, and certainly not a malingerer. What he had was pure and simple: loneliness.

The medical resident was stunned. As he admitted to me later, he learned a powerful lesson that day: that the pain of loss can be as profound as not breathing. And sometimes the symptom comes not from the body, but is a cry from the soul.

Back to my patient. He was classically lonely, having lost his dearest friend of 20 years. We had to allow him to share his grief ...

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