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Summary
- Psalm 25:16 is a one-verse prayer for loneliness: “Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.”
- Short prayers cover night, living alone, a move, a breakup or betrayal, loneliness in a marriage or crowd, singleness, widowhood, standing alone for the faith, reaching out and a lonely friend.
- Traditional prayers are quoted from Hapgood’s 1906 Orthodox service book (“O heavenly King, the Comforter”), the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (“O Lord, support us all the day long”) and Psalm 142.
- Elijah, Paul (2 Timothy 4:16–17) and Jesus in Gethsemane all went through loneliness; Jesus said, “I am not alone, because the Father is with me” (John 16:32).
- Chosen solitude for prayer, as Jesus practiced (Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16), differs from loneliness.
- Anyone whose loneliness has turned to despair can call or text 988 in the US or call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK and Ireland.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Genesis 2:18; 1 Kings 19:10, 18; Psalm 4:8; 25:16; 27:10; 68:6; 102:7; 142:4–5; Ecclesiastes 4:9–10; Matthew 26:40; Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; John 14:18; 16:32; 2 Timothy 4:16–17; Hebrews 13:5). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- Hapgood, Isabel Florence, trans. Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. The Third Hour, “O heavenly King, the Comforter,” p. 43. https://www.ponomar.net/data/hapgood.pdf
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Family Prayer, At Night, pp. 594–595. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. https://988lifeline.org/
- Samaritans. “Contact a Samaritan.” https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/
