-There is Hope

“Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” – Kings 19:4

A letter came to the class of Social Doctrines of the Catholic Church class that bore no signature and no return address. It read, “By the time you receive this letter, I will have committed suicide. I accept Christ two years ago. Lately my world has been crumpling around me. I can’t take it anymore. I can’t fall again or be ‘bad’ anymore. God I have drifted apart… Lord, help me.”

Even Christians can get so desperate that they want to take their own life. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah was so physically and emotionally exhausted that he asked God to take his life. Although that’s not suicide, his request arises from the same feeling if despair. But God brought Elijah out of his depression. He strengthened him with food and sleep, listened to his complaint, gently corrected him by reassuring him in a still, small voice, and gave him new work to do.

Most people who take their lives do so when they are deeply depressed. Reality has become distorted, and they can’t see the selfish, sinful nature of their act. But God wants to restore them. Sometimes He speaks hope directly to the soul, but more often He uses sensitive, caring people to help. We can be God’s hope to others. We can say to those are cast down, “In Christ there is hope.”

When we are most ready to perish, God is most ready to help us.    

-Saved From suicide

“Behold the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,…to deliver their soul from death.” –Psalm 33:18-19

William Cowper, though a Christian, had sunk to the depths of despair. One foggy night he called for a carriage and asked to be taken to the London Bridge on the Thames River. He was so overcome by depression that he intended to commit suicide. After two hours of driving through the mist, Cowper’s coachman confessed that he was lost. Disgusted by the delay, Cowper left the carriage and decided to find the London Bridge on foot. After walking a short distance, he discovered that he was at his own doorstep. The carriage had been going in circles. Recognizing the restraining hand of God and convicted by the spirit, Cowper realized that the way out of his troubles was to look to God, not to jump into the river. With gratitude he sat down and wrote these reassuring words: “God moves in a mysterious way his wonder to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm. O fearful saint, fresh courage take; the clouds you so much dread are big with mercy, and shall break in blessings on your head.” Cowper’s hymn of gratitude has comforted many of God’s people since the 18^th century.

The psalmist said, “The eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him” (Ps 33:18). Our need is His concern (Henry Bosch).

No life is Hopeless unless Christ is ruled out.

-“Who Did Sin”

“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? –John 9:2”

Since all our woes can be traced to man’s original sin, we reason that sin must also be the immediate cause of sickness. Apparently this was how the disciples analyzed the case of the man born blind. But Jesus’ reply, “Neither has this man nor his parents sinned,” undercuts all pat answers to affliction.

Emotional illness is even more subject to shortsighted, judgmental responses. Most physical diseases are socially acceptable, but a stigma still hangs over psychological disorders. Vivian Clark tells of a discussion on the topic “Is Depression Sin for the Christian?” One person said, “Because it can’t coexist with the fruit of the spirit, which is joy, it must be a sin.” Another added, “There is no reason for Christians to be depressed.” Just then, a sad-faced woman slipped away from the group. For days she had been despondent. Those remarks only added to her depression.

Emotional problems may indeed be caused by wrong attitude or sin. But all of us transgress, and yet not every one breaks down. The causes of depression and mental illness are varied and complex. To help someone, we shouldn’t immediately ask, “Who sinned?” Rather we should pray, “Lord, help me do your work in this person’s life.”

Compassion invests everything necessary to heal the hurts of others.

-When There Is No Relief In Sight

“For my soul is full of troubles”. –Psalm 88:3

Walking with the Lord is more fulfilling than anything this world offers. But nowhere does the Bible say that God’s people are exempt from physical pain or even great mental and spiritual darkness.

  The great preacher C.H. Spurgeon frequently fell into deep depression. Biographer Arnold Dallimore wrote, “What he suffered in those times of darkness we may not know…even his desperate calling God brought no relief. ‘There are dungeons,’ he said, ‘beneath the castles of despair.’” Psalm 88, written by a godly man named Heman, stands alone in the psalter for its unrelenting sorrow and gloom. Unlike David, whose despair usually gave way to hope, Heman’s psalm ends with the word darkness.

How can such a woeful psalm encourage us? First, it confirms that God’s people may undergo great spiritual misery. Second, it shows the way out. Heman poured out his anguish to God even though no answer came.

  Some Bible scholars see in his agony a parallel to Christ’s. We know that when He bore our sin He was actually forsaken by God. He died in our place. Therefore, we who trust Him will never be abandoned. God promises that deliverance is certain, even when there is no relief in sight.

God is with us in the darkness just as surely as He is with us in the light.

–The Needed Praise

“Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad”.-Proverbs 12:25

Ken’s friends invited him to their home for dinner. The food was superb–except for the apple pie. It just didn’t measure up to the rest of the meal. Even so, Ken went out of his way to find some good things to say about it.

When he visited the home again, the hostess topped off the meal with a cherry pie that was absolutely delicious. But Ken didn’t say one word about it. The hostess finally blurted out, “The last time you were here, I served a pie that I was ashamed of, yet you were very complimentary. Tonight I’ve given you what I think is the best pie I’ve ever made, and you haven’t said a word.” Ken smiled and replied, “The cherry pie tonight was fantastic, and that the apple pie you served last time was not as good as this one. But the first one needed the praise!”

Our relationship with people is like that: some need more encouragement than others. We should never say that something is good when it’s really bad. Yet no matter how imperfect a person may seem, we can almost always find something commendable to praise.

 Discouraged people surround us. But with a little imagination, we can find creative ways to give them encouragement they need.

If you see people without a smile today, give them one of yours.

–Hope Beyond Hope

“Blessed is the man who trust in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord”. -Jeremiah 17:7   

The English poet Alexander Pop wrote, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest.” But where does man turn when hope dries up?

The director of a medical clinic told of a terminally ill young man who came in for his usual treatment. A new doctor who was on duty said to him casually cruelly, “You know, don’t you, that you won’t live out the year?” As the young man left, he stopped by the director’s desk and wept. “That man took away my hope,” he blurted out.

 “I guess he did,” replied the director. “Maybe it’s time to find a new one.” Commenting on this incident, author Lewis Smedes wrote, “Is there a hope when hope is taken away? Is there hope when the situation is hopeless? That question leads us to Christian hope, for in the Bible, hope is no longer a passion for the possible. It becomes a passion for the promise.”

When our expectation is rooted in God and in His son Jesus Christ as our Savior from sin and death, the blessing that Alexander Pope says we are always looking for becomes a present reality. Because God is the God of hope (Rom. 15:13), He alone keeps hope flowing when it’s springs dry up in the breast.The secret of copping is hoping in God.    

By Robert Kortey Apla-kweku