The Antidote

Alone isn’t an issue of proximity; it’s a state of being. Together in a crowd or even in a one-on-one relationship, people can feel completely and utterly alone.

Have you ever been looking so intently for something you’ve lost—hurrying and scurrying through your house so quickly that you stub your big toe on the table, chair, or step that’s been there for years? Or have you been searching for your keys, glasses, or cell phone to the point of utter frustration only to find your missing item was in your pocket, on your face, or in your hand the entire time? 

Alone is kind of like that. It’s a critical concept that’s both a problem but also a solution to our greatest needs, and it’s been right in front of our noses for millennia. We see it every time we look in the mirror, but perhaps we’ve been so preoccupied with our own struggles and the busyness of life that we’ve completely missed it despite it being in plain sight the whole time.

“The first revelation God gave to man wasn’t about sin,” said Dr. David Ferguson, author and church leader. “No, the first time God revealed something man didn’t know—revelation—is when he told man he was—alone.” And it wasn’t good.

This was God’s first revelation to humanity, and it might be one of the most important verses in the entire Bible. It might also be the most ignored, which explains why so many people continue to go through life emotionally empty, socially isolated, and spiritually broken far more than we like to admit.

God was essentially revealing what it means to be created in his image. Here’s the essence of what he was saying: we are designed to be relational.

“It is not good for the man to be alone” cuts straight to the greatest fear of humanity: loneliness. Alone isn’t about your marital status or being single. God wasn’t simply referring to Adam but to all of humankind. Each of us was made to be completed and fulfilled in our relationships with each other. Humans are hardwired for connection. The need to interact with others intimately is built into our DNA.

God’s cure for our human crises doesn’t require decades of expensive research. It only entails our willingness to accept that relationships are the antidote for alone.