Solutions (cont'd)
Did King David feel that killing
himself was the answer? On the contrary, he turned to God for help to lift him
up from his low state of depression. Always he depended upon God's promises,
and that is where his trust and hope was.
·
Psalms 119:25-
"My soul cleaveth unto the dust:
quicken thou me according to thy word".
When David was laid low in the dust,
he prayed for renewal of life, asking God to preserve his life according to His
word of promise. And this is (generally speaking) the problem today.
Christians, that is to say, professed Christians, are not really looking to God
for their help. Rather they are looking at themselves and saying "poor me,
I am without hope, I have no hope". Their eyes are not on the prize, they
are always on themselves. The emphasis is always on them, and never on the
power of God as their help, strength and hope.
·
Psalms 42:5 -"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art
thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the
help of his countenance".
In other words, David understood that
this was the God of his strength. Christians will survive suicidal tendencies
by doing two things. They reduce their mental anguish by laying those thoughts
down at the cross (Philippians 4:8) and leaving them there. And they increase
their ability to cope by leaning upon the strength (Psalms 19:14; Psalms 31:4;
2nd Corinthians 12:9) of Christ, rather than their own. We can give our burdens
to Christ, or we can attempt to carry them on our own shoulders. The problem is
that so many Christians burden themselves in trying to deal with this alone,
without Christ as their help. Yet if they humble themselves, lay all their
burden down, they then don't have a care in the world. The problem is, people
will not do that. They would rather wallow in self-pity.
·
2nd
Corinthians 12:9-10: " And he
said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that
the power of Christ may rest upon me.Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities,
in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's
sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong".
This was Paul who couldn’t understand
why he should be going through thorny situations in fulfilling his calling. There
are many who call themselves Christian who don't really believe that God will
help them (though they'll never admit
it out loud), but then where is their faith or their evidence of true salvation.
There is no opt-out suicide clause in the law of God. Moreover, I cannot
comprehend how the Holy Spirit of God could guide us, without moving us to
where He wants us to go. Seriously, even a guide dog moves the blind to safety,
does he not? God is much more careful of those under His care than a guide dog.
And to make the claim that God does not take that kind of action within
Christians is to ignore all the pertinent scriptures, which clearly says that
God does.
·
Psalms 18:2- "The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my
deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn
of my salvation, and my high tower".
·
Psalms 40:4- "Blessed is that man that maketh
the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to
lies".
These are the things that faithful
ministers of the word and closer people tell Christians. They don't counsel
them that they can murder themselves, have no hope, have no trust in the Lord,
and still be saved. A Christian committing suicide is forsaking his God, His
God's law, and his commission. He's throwing in the proverbial towel. In
essence he's saying, I'm tired of the work Christ has given me in this world
and I want to quit. And more often than not, he has never even been working for
Christ in the first place, merely parroting the line that 'he is a Christian.'
But a true Christian doesn't faint in well doing, He endures. That again is one
of the evidences of true Christianity. If we lack this, what makes us think we
are true Christians?
·
2nd
Corinthians 4:16-18: "For
which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the
inward man is renewed day by day". For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which
are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which
are not seen are eternal.
Our
spirit within us is renewed and invigorated day after day because Christ dwells
within us and gives us the strength to persevere. Are we to think that His
Spirit abandons us or fail to renew us the day we need it most? God Forbid!
That may be the implication in some Theologians words, but it is not what we
would expect according to scripture. He will never leave nor forsake us. Is
that become a meaningless phrase in our day? As true Christians we wait upon
the Lord, we do not throw up our hands in despair, we endure in desperate times
and trials specifically because of the strength of Christ within us. So then, understanding this,
what do we have that sustains us, faith or non-faith, belief, or unbelief.
·
Isaiah 40:31- "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew
their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and
not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
Hopelessness, being distraught to the
point of murdering oneself, these are not the evidences of a true Christian.
They may be the evidence of one who has very little (if any) faith, or of those who have a shallow or superficial
relationship with Christ. It's the evidence of one who has taken his eyes off
Christ. That is to say, if he ever had them there to begin with. Are those who
run and become weary, or who have walked and do faint, accounted sainthood? Or
are these those who have not mounted up with eagle's wings and waited upon the
Lord, but who have contrarily sank low in deep despair and given up all hope.
We cannot in all good conscience ignore these things for the sake of saying things
that people want to hear.
·
Hebrews 12:11-
"Now no chastening for the
present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby".
Of course there are those who want to
confuse the issue by bringing up the relatively small group of people who kill
themselves because they are physically in tortuous pain. But even in that, do
we ignore the fact that the Christians of old endured as much and more tortuous
pain (they didn't have today's medications), or who endured the horrors of evil
men in tortures, and yet would not waver in their faith one inch from the Lord?
Choosing to be tortured to death, rather than say a few words which would save
their very lives or bring to an end their torture? Are we to cast this strength
in Christ off as an aberration of Christianity, and the weakness of these
people today who commit suicide as an understandable thing for Christians? I
don't think so. To do so denies all that God declares He will do for us, and demeans
all that the Church which has gone before us has endured in faith. When we lose
hope, we loose our anchor. How then are we still moored safely and abiding in
Christ? Christians of all people should know better than this.
· 2Cor.4:8-11:
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed;
we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down,
but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord
Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we
which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also
of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
So you see all we miss if we don’t
read and meditate on the word of God? All these scriptures mean nothing to
those who choose to ignore them in favor of humanistic reasoning. But to
faithful Christians, we know that Hope is our anchor, and we know that it is
sure and steadfast to those with true belief. We know that to lack this hope,
is a terrible sin. It is in essence, to have no anchor. see Part 5
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