Suicide from a Biblical Perspective. Part 4. (final)
As you have noticed, we have looked at this difficult subject from a biblical perspective and not necessarily from an “only humane” idea. Why?
Haven’t read part 1, part 2 or part 3 yet? Please do that first, then we’d love to see you back here. If you’ve already read those… here we go:
The short answer: humanly speaking, we don’t have an answer to the question of why life is so incredibly difficult for you or me.
Let’s face it… humanly speaking, we understand that people are giving up. The world is sometimes a very cruel world with a lot of misery. And yes, it can make you very hopeless… and when the hope is gone… the end is near… 🙁
And that also brings us to the explanation of why we look at it from a Biblical/Divine perspective. Because God wants to offer you perspective for your future. That God has a purpose for you on earth. Now. And yes, although we sometimes don’t understand what that goal is, if we trust that He does, it gives a different perspective of things.
Example: If I had not attempted suicide twice myself, I would not have been able to write this now with the same feeling and with the same intensity. I know, from experience, that life can be VERY hard. And no, those times weren’t fun, beautiful, or easy, but by going through them, and getting out of it with God’s help, I can now try to help you with what you may be going through right now. No, I can never understand your circumstances 100%, but through my own experiences I can think along with you, just a bit. And in hindsight… as strange as it may sound, it was a blessing and all worth it.
There is even a (quite complicated) Bible verse about this:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Sometimes you go through experiences that are not good… but God has a different plan for them… so that you (for example) can help other people in the future who may be going through a hard time. (and that’s just one example) One person helps another, with his/her life lessons, to make it to the next day. In a world, that is pretty rotten. (that is and remains a fact, let’s be very honest about that)
With God, your perspective changes and there is hope. Yes, your pain is real, but the feeling is changing… there is light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope!
And yes…. Despite my experiences, I can only empathize a very(!) little bit with how you feel. Lonely, abandoned, you really don’t know what to do anymore and the “why” question is really there.
Do you know who understands you 100%? Jesus, the son of God. That Jesus has been here on earth (and will come back again, but that is for another time). That Jesus had done nothing(!) wrong. Never. And yet…all His friends left Him…people threw stones at Him…and tortured Him to death on a cross…talking about hopelessness…
So if there’s anyone who really understands how you feel, it’s Him. Lonely, abandoned? He’s really been through it. As a person on earth. He trusted, to the death, 110% in God’s great plan. A plan with a future. And God had a plan!
That God also knew that you and I are not perfect. That we’ve been up to things that aren’t right. And to be honest… we as humans have made the earth so rotten. Not God. And yes, God had every right to punish you and me for that… and He didn’t.
He sent Jesus to earth to bear that penalty… literally the death penalty. And with that, the punishment we deserved has been resolved. And there is no more death penalty for you, but life. Not just today, but forever.
Do you have to do something complicated to get that eternal future? No. All you have to do is believe that Jesus did that for you. Nothing more and nothing less. And if you believe that, there is a bright eternal future for you, with hope. And that hope gives you energy today, no matter how bad life is right now.
Without God and without his Biblical perspective, we have no answer to today’s misery. But with His perspective, there is a future. For you too. Today.
You and I are too small to solve those big problems we face today. God can. Especially for you.
And now for practicality… what can you do with it today if you may be walking around with suicidal thoughts or have lost someone to suicide? Then we challenge you with a bizarre plan…. a step-by-step plan:
- Write a letter to God, very old-fashioned, with a pen and paper.
- That letter should be brutally honest. Rough, tough as nails, with all the thorns, you can write all you want. This is your chance.
- Make 2 copies of that letter.
- Find a church in your area.
- Take 1 copy, in a closed(!) envelope with you to that church and hand over that envelope in person.
- Ask them to NOT open the envelope, but just pray for it. Nothing more and nothing less.
- Visit them again after a week and discuss what’s in it… bring your own copy as a guideline for your conversation.
- And with all the steps… pray yourself that God sends you the right people on your path, at the right time.
- And after that? Let yourself be surprised… let it go. God helps you, He is there for you, now and also if you dare to follow this step-by-step plan.
The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17
And so far, this very tough topic. We hope and pray it helps you. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate, call, email, do something. We are happy to assist you. Whoever you are, whatever happened. Always.
Do you find it difficult to talk about it person to person? We get it, its sometimes very(!) hard to talk about it. So, we would like to challenge you to connect to one of our partners and, completely anonymous, chat with them. That’s completely anonymous, free, for you, 24/7.
