Dave’s Monday Blast – June 18, 2018
There is has been so many stories of late about individuals taking their own lives. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported very recently that suicide rates increased 25 percent nationally from 1999 to 2016. They rose in nearly every state. In 2016, there were more than than twice as many suicides as homicides. Every indication suggests this “trend” is rapidly increasing. Having worked in schools most of my life, the most alarming thing is that adolescent and teen rates are accelerating at the same pace.
According to the CDC, more than half of people who died by suicide did not have a known mental health condition. Factors contributing to suicide include relationship problems, a crisis in the past or are currently undergoing a crisis, problematic substance abuse, physical health problems, job or financial troubles, criminal or legal problems, and loss of housing.
However, other studies have found much higher rates of mental health disorders among people at high risk of suicide. “The reason most suicide decedents don’t have a known mental disorder is that they were never diagnosed, not that they didn’t have one,” according to one psychiatry professor.
C.S. Lewis noted, “Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say my tooth is aching than to say my heart is broken.”
It is not my intent to discuss this difficult topic from the vantage point of a professional in this field. There are many resources that help us understand “suicide warning signs” and every threat must be taken seriously. I did want to share three biblical promises on this topic from one of my favorite writers, Pastor Jim Denison. He wrote a very good piece recently entitled, “Suicide, Scripture and the Grace of God”.
1. You and every person you know is someone of inestimable worth. Depression and life crisis can cause us to feel that our lives are not worth living. The opposite is true. Every person on earth is someone for whom Jesus died (Romans 5:8). In 1941 C.S. Lewis preached his famous “Weight of Glory” sermon at Oxford University. In it, he stated, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations —- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat” (his emphasis).
Lewis adds: “Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.” So are you.
2. God loves you and wants to help. When Elijah despaired of his life and prayed, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take way my life” (1 Kings 19:4), God provided the physical, spiritual, and emotional sustenance he needed to go on. When Jeremiah said, “Cursed be the day on which I was born!” (Jeremiah 20:14), God sustained his prophet.
Scripture promises: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). Paul, who faced almost indescribable challenges (2 Corinthians 11:23 – 28), could proclaim, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). Jesus knows our pain. He has faced everything we face (Hebrews 4:15). He cried from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Now He is ready to help you.
One of the most important ways the Great Physician heals is through human physicians. God can and does use them as he uses His Word to minister grace to all those in need.
3. You can “dwell on the heights” with God. Paul testified that he could “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). He could do this because he lived in the power of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). God wants to be the “stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge” (Isaiah 33:6). The person who walks with him “will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure” (v. 16).
You too can “dwell on the heights” with your Father. This is the promise, and the invitation of God to His INTENTIONAL followers.
