SUICIDE
Job 6:8,9 Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut me off!
I don’t know if you have ever thought of suicide, but there have been times in my life when I have. Of course as you can tell by reading this devotional I didn’t do it, but it doesn’t change the fact that I thought about it. There is no way of knowing how many people have thought about taking their own life. But we do have some sad facts I got off of Google. Most came from around 2014.
Suicide in the United States
10th leading cause of death
Each year 42,773 die from it
For every 25 attempts 1 person dies
The cost for the country is estimated at 51 billion dollars
There is an average of 17 per day
50% are from guns
Women attempt suicide 3 times more than men, but men die 4 times more
White males accounted for 7 out of every 10 deaths
Highest level is middle aged white males
Every 65 minutes a veteran commits suicide
For every 25 youth one will die
For every 4 elderly one will die
Every year the numbers are going up
Many attempted suicides are never reported
On this Google site there were 19,500,000 hits
Well, why do people have these thoughts? There are probably as many different reasons as there are people that want to take their life. There is one thing that is a common factor, and like with Job they seem to have lost all hope even with God. For most Christians their quick response might be that there is always hope when we have God. But what if you feel that even God is against you? Job had a personal relationship with God it seems, and he had lost even hope in God. I just had someone call me the other day asking about what the Bible had to say about it. He said a friend of his had been talking about it lately. Whether it really was a friend or himself he needed some insight.
Anytime anyone talks about suicide or give clues to it in their life it should always be taken seriously. If there brief comment no matter how off the cuff or even jokingly made could be their last attempt of cry for help. Most people thinking about suicide are not wanting a lecture on anything, not even scripture verses. They want someone to listen to them, and care! If a person is about to take their life they have thought about it many different times already. The thing is we nor they know for sure if this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back! Sometimes the thing that determines a person’s decision isn’t even the underlying reason or reasons for the loss of all hope.
It is always best to try to get professional help for the person rather than thinking that you can do it yourself. It is always best to get good Christian counseling if possible. Sad to say, pastors are not always the best resource, and remember I was one for 32 years! I am not saying that a pastor doesn’t have a place in helping someone, but if you needed brain surgery would you want a specialist, or someone that slept in a Holliday Inn like the commercial used to say? For brain surgery or suicide both are serious and can end in death! Often a family doctor can assist in helping you to find some qualified help both with public aid and otherwise.
The Bible doesn’t say that a person will go to hell if they commit suicide. Sometimes pastors and Christian laity will tell the person they it is wrong to kill and killing yourself is a terrible sin that will send them to hell. I think they do this in hopes of scaring the person into not taking their life for fear that things will become even worse for them following suicide. This is like telling someone that their broken leg is just fine, and if they don’t think about it everything will be just fine. As ridiculous as this would be, so is not treating cause for the desire to take their life. Just to tell them that God loves them and to start going to church even though they need to do both isn’t enough! Like with the simple pain of a splinter in your finger, a band aid is not the answer. What needs to be done is to get the splinter out. This almost always takes a lot of love, patience and time. This is why someone that knows what they are doing really needs to be involved. Most lay people or even pastors are just too busy, or unqualified to council a person threatening suicide or is even troubled. To attempt helping and failing can bring a lifetime of guilt.
So what was the answer for Job and me? Getting right with the Lord! Once Job saw his sin of self-righteousness and repented of it, he no longer saw God as his enemy. Instead of running away from God he ran to God and God received him. The splinter was removed so to speak! Now healing could begin, and now that Job saw God’s love for him once again he had hope. Hope removes the need for suicide.
For me it was seeing my sin of self-righteousness too. All my life I had the feeling that if I was just good enough, and didn’t sin too badly then God would be happy to have me in heaven. I like Job had allowed a false sense of righteousness on my part thinking that I was probably better than many others, and if God was just as I believed then he would have to let me in heaven. Wrong! This thinking only lead me deeper into ever falling short of the perfection even I felt was necessary to go to heaven.
Finally I learned of the grace of God that comes by having faith in the grace of Jesus’ atonement. Once I heard that Good News, I had the hope I needed. It would bring me all the way to sit at the feet of Jesus. How I thank the Holy Spirit for his vision he gave me of seeing myself in my self-righteousness, dress in filthy rags of shame before God. I often wonder why I hadn’t seen it on my own, but self-righteousness doesn’t appear to be wrong to the person that is self-righteous. It seems like they have arrived and are standing on top of the mountain, but in reality that mountain of self-righteousness is on top of them.
I don’t think of suicide anymore. I haven’t for a long time now, praise the Lord! But I know I can only say this by the grace of God. Jesus has been so good to me, and I know I can expect only the best from him for all eternity. I am so glad I became a Christian and fell in love with Jesus when I did. My only regret is not knowing and loving him earlier!
Prayer: Lord, it isn’t any fun to not have hope. Please help those around the world that do not have hope in Jesus to face another day. Please use us and all our brothers and sisters around the world to be source of encouragement to others by pointing them to Jesus. We ask this in Jesus name.
