How to pray when you feel alone

When you feel alone, you can tell God how isolated you feel and ask Him to be near. The Bible does not wish loneliness away. David called himself desolate. Paul wrote from prison that everyone had deserted him. Both prayed, and Paul also asked his friends to come.

Can a person of faith feel desolate?

¹⁶Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, For I am desolate and afflicted.
¹⁷The troubles of my heart have enlarged; Bring me out of my distresses!
Psalm 25:16-17 (NKJV) · Read in context

Psalm 25 is a prayer of David, written as an acrostic: its verses follow the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the middle of that careful order, he says he is desolate and afflicted. You can feel lonely and still belong to God. The two are not opposites.

What did Paul do when people left him?

¹⁶At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them.
¹⁷But 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.
2 Timothy 4:16-17 (NKJV) · Read in context

Second Timothy is traditionally the last letter Paul wrote, from prison in Rome. Read 2 Timothy 4:9-18. Paul says the Lord stood with him. In the same passage he asks Timothy to come quickly, to bring Mark, and to bring his cloak and his books. Trusting God and asking friends for company sit side by side. Wanting people is not a lack of faith.

Does God care about lonely people?

⁵A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation.
⁶God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
Psalm 68:5-6 (NKJV) · Read in context

Psalm 68 is a song of praise to God as the one who rescues. Among His acts it names defending the fatherless and widows, and setting the solitary in families. The New Testament often calls the church a household. For many Christians, this is one way God answers loneliness: through people He puts around them.

How can you pray and take a step?

Tell God when you feel most alone: evenings, weekends, after church, after a phone call ends.
Ask Him to be near, and to bring one person into your life.
Pray for one person you could contact this week, then send them a message.
If you belong to a church, tell a pastor or leader that you are lonely. Most would want to know.

For example: “Lord, the evenings are the hardest. Stay near me. Show me one person I could reach out to this week, and give me the courage to do it. Amen.” This is a prepared example. Use the hour of the day that is hardest for you.

What if the loneliness turns heavy?

Loneliness can slide into a low mood that does not lift. If you feel that way for weeks, or you have stopped looking after yourself, talk to a doctor or a counsellor as well as to God. Both are ways of being cared for.

If you would like help finding words, write a prayer. You can also read how to pray Scripture and turn Psalm 25 into your own prayer.