The last week I received a phone call that was quite heartbreaking. I was told about a young man that I knew who struggled to get silent in his walk with Jesus. They finally gave in to the struggle and committed suicide two weeks ago. Another time in 2019 received a phone call from a woman who in the past couple of months her family had experienced the deaths of two relatives from suicide. And a third relative attempted suicide. Receiving the most recent call reminded me of times when others and I have had to battle the lies about suicide. According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2016 suicide took the lives of nearly 45,000 people. All that said, I would just like to encourage you once again that there is hope beyond where you are.
There
were several people in the bible that battled depression, fear & being
suicidal for one reason or another. King Saul, King David, Elijah, Jeremiah and
Judas; just to mention a few. Let’s look at a few examples from the life of
King David. In Psalm 38:6-8 “I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I
go mourning all the day long…I am feeble and severely broken; I groan because
of the turmoil of my heart.” Sound familiar? Depression, fear,
suicidal thoughts, etc. all begin in the mind. The mind is the battlefield that
the devil uses to bring us to a point of despair, defeat, and the desire to
give up on life. The fact of the matter is that none of those negative thoughts
are true. The Word of God is true.
In
many of the Psalms you find David going through depression and other negative
emotions. Depression, self-condemnation, etc. are usually rooted in guilt. We
feel so badly about our life that we begin to isolate ourselves from others.
Isolation is a major tool that the devil uses against us. If he can get us
alone and keep bombarding our minds with his lies that we’re no good, useless,
or no one cares… The list of lies goes on.
Back
to King David. In many of the Psalms you will find that David starts off with
despairing thoughts but by the time you get to the end of the Psalm he ends on
a happy note. Why is this? We find the answer in 1 Samuel 30: 6 – “Now David
was greatly distressed…But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.” God
is the ONLY one who can help us and deliver us of our hopelessness. Allow me to
share just a few points from the bible that may be helpful to you.
God Has a Good Plan
For Your Life. 11 “For I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of
evil, to give you a future and a hope.
12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will
listen to you.” )Jeremiah
29:11-12) God has a specific plan in mind for everyone, but we
won’t know that plan unless we ask him. God's plan for you is life, not death.
The Bible teaches that both physical and spiritual deaths are the result of our
sin and disobedience to God, but eternal life is a gift to those who receive
it. (See Romans 3:23) Repentance is the first step in moving forward.
Death And Destruction
Are the Work Of The Devil. “The thief
does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that
they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “ (John
10:10)
In
this scripture Jesus refers to the devil as a thief. That’s what he is! All
that Satan wants to do is steal from our families, and us. He does it by
filling our minds with his lies so that we will become discouraged and give up.
The Giving and Taking
Of Life Belong To God. “Or do you
not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom
you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)
I won’t dwell on this
point because I want to focus on some positives in closing. Simply put, it is
never our place to take our own life or someone else's life.
If
suicide is not the answer, then what is?
Hope in the Lord “Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our
shield.” (Psalm 33:20)
We
must put our hope in the Lord, not in other people, not in our job, not in
ourselves. Our hope should be in the Lord Jesus Christ only. The
solution to hopelessness is not suicide, but faith in God.
Tell Someone “12 Therefore strengthen the
hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and
make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated,
but rather be healed.” ( Hebrews 12:12-13)
Tell
your pastor or youth minister, your parents, a close relative, your teacher or
school counselor, about the struggles you are facing and that suicide is in
your thoughts. You can’t get help if the need isn’t made known.
Lastly,
but most importantly…
Accept Christ's Free
Gift Of Eternal Life and Salvation “For
whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13)
If
you call out to Jesus, He will answer you! But He’s waiting for you;
he will not force himself upon you. Look at what John 1:12 says;
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of
God, to those who believe in His name.” Once
you accept Christ, God gives us a brand-new life and helps you learn to walk a
holy life. Allow me to close with one of my favorite scriptures… “Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become new. “ (2 Corinthians 5:17)
We are here for you. You are not alone!
No comments:
Post a Comment