The number of people considering suicide may be surprising. After all, it’s Spring when the earth is bursting with new life. Maybe it’s a reminder of the contrast between the lives of others and themselves. The enemy’s whispers fill the soul’s thirsty voids. His slick voice tells us it’s not worth pushing through; you’ll never be happy, rich, beautiful, etc., like others. Another lie is it’s always been this way, and good things never happen to me. Society is saturated with messages that deny God, His power, His existence, and His mighty love for us.
4 But he himself traveled a day’s journey into the wilderness, and he came and sat down under a juniper tree and asked [God] that he might die. He said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
1 Kings 19:4
We Arent Alone
Many men and women of God had those difficult and depressing times. They even wanted to die at times. Consider Elijah in 1 Kings 19:4. He performed some of the most powerful miracles of all of the prophets, but this didn’t keep him from being human and needing God’s help with depression. None of us are immune. King David, Moses, and Job had bouts of depression. God doesn’t choose perfect people, but He chooses the humble, no matter how flawed they are, to do His work, and He delivers them, just like He delivered all of these men I just mentioned. We aren’t alone, let’s turn to Him during these times, and He will make way for us to walk out.
Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters… “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:16-19
When We’re Depressed and Down
When we’re depressed and down, just know that you aren’t alone and that God is with us in our trials. Understand that we are human, and it sometimes becomes too much. If those thoughts persist, we must reach out to a qualified professional; it might result from some buried pain that can no longer be denied. I have done this, and it’s helped immensely. I love that in 1 Kings, the Lord had Elijah sleep, rest, and eat. He had him care for his physical body and mental health. Then He journeyed to the mountain of God for his complete encouragement. Let’s do the same. Let’s take inventory when we feel down, and do what we can to help ourselves. Are we getting enough sleep? eating right? Let’s do the things God even prescribed in 1 Kings; let’s seek God and allow Him to show us we aren’t alone. Let us not be afraid to seek help from professionals too. God can use it all.
10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].
11 [a]I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd [b]lays down His [own] life for the sheep.
John 10:10
Here’s Help
This is the number of the suicide hotline. Call them at 1-800-273-8255 or check out their site.
