A way out of darkness, answers for the suicidal.
5. Feelings of Failure or Blinded by the Darkness
There is an account in Act 16:25-31 of a man who was a jailor. One night there was a great earthquake and the jail broke open as a result. Read a brief description of the account for understanding, “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.” Notice that this was something that was totally out of his hands, but his job was to keep these prisoners and he thought he had failed in that. There are a few things worth taking note of here. First, it was midnight, so it was very dark. Many times, when people consider suicide, they describe the way that they feel as being dark. I know that this is talking about the night time, but I think there is a metaphor here that is interesting. Darkness does something to us: it can bring confusion and it can bring fear. This man could not see clearly, and so he imagined the worst. That is what people do in the dark. The Bible says that he supposed the prisoners escaped and because of this wrong supposition, he was going to kill himself. He didn’t even wait to examine and see if he was correct. Often in the darkness, we will jump to the conclusion that there is no hope without knowing the truth. We allow the darkness to create despair in our hearts and prevent us from finding out the whole truth. The truth for this man was that none of the prisoners had left. If you feel that you have failed or you feel blinded by the darkness, remember this account. The truth is far different in the light. Jesus said in John 12:46 “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” Continue to read on to learn more about the light that Christ offers.
6. Sickness and Trials
No one in the world has had more sickness and trial than a man in the Bible named Job. In just a short period of time, he lost everything he owned, all his children died, and he got painful boils from the top of his head to his feet. His life went down-hill fast and he was completely miserable, both emotionally and physically. It is no wonder why, in Job 6:8-11, he wished that he would die. Nothing can steal hope as fast as grief and sickness. Part of this is because we can forget that even in these things, we still have a purpose. We can lose sight of that purpose easily when with the distraction of physical and emotional pain. Job did this very thing, but by the end of the book of Job not only had he recovered from his sickness, but he had recovered all of the possessions he had lost and more. Without a doubt, Job had much to be sad about, but the Bible shows us that he didn’t know the end of his own story. And neither do any of us. In the end, Job had far more good waiting for him than the bad he experienced. The Bible tells us that God can give us peace even while we face trials in life; this begins with having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. To learn how to have that peace continue to read on.
