Solitary Confinement

For there are different reasons why men cannot marry: some, because they were born that way; others, because men made them that way; and others do not marry for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven. Let him who can accept this teaching do so.

-- Matthew 19:12

It was a place of suffering and loneliness known as The Rock.

Alcatraz was a notorious maximum-security prison situated in the midst of San Francisco Bay. Originally a pre-Civil War era military outpost and later a military prison, it became the last stop for society’s worst-of-the-worst when it re-opened in 1934 as an escape-proof penitentiary.

The Rock’s ultra-strict code of discipline helped the facility earn its nickname of “Hellcatraz.” In its infamous D Block, prisoners lived in 4’ x 8’ cells and were allowed out just once a week for a 10-minute shower. “Harsher punishments,” reports the Legends of America website, included “solitary confinement, in total darkness, for days without any release, or confinement in the dreaded steel boxes.”

Alcatraz closed its doors in 1963. But today there are still millions of

Americans who suffer in solitary confinement in a prison called loneliness. Even in a crowded nation like ours of more than 300 million, too many people are on their own without close friends or family. They know all too well that it’s possible to be lonely without ever being alone. In fact, a May 2018 Cigna survey of 20,000 adults reveals that loneliness is nearly epidemic in America. Nearly 50% of respondents said they sometimes or always feel alone or left out. And about 20% of people reported that they rarely or never feel close to people or feel like there are people they can talk to.

This was never God’s plan for his people. But we all to some extent have trouble forming relationships – with each other and with The Creator. If you go back to Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God put the original man and woman in a perfect, carefree existence called Eden. There were no job deadlines, traffic jams, illnesses or broken marriages. And it was a place where God literally walked with his creation. But when the man and woman sinned by intentionally disobeying the Lord’s instructions, things were never the same. Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened, and they realized the damage they had done. It’s then that they hid from their Creator. Their sin had built a high wall between them and God!

We’re no different today. In addition to our own sins, we also run from relationships because of what others have done to us. We’re determined to avoid being disappointed or hurt again — and running away is the easiest solution.

The good news is that God has a two-fold solution to this problem. First, he re-established a relationship with us through his son, Jesus. When we became Christ-followers, we also became God’s sons and daughters, and joined his family. Second, he established the Church, which is composed of every Christ-follower in the world. It’s a body of imperfect people like you and me who are all looking for the same thing: a safe place to rest from the world, heal their spiritual wounds and make lifelong relationships.

Married or single, we all live with loneliness to one extent or another. Let’s embrace the happy truth that we’re never alone in Christ.