I was thinking of suicide the other day and of friends whose loved ones have taken that way out. I have never lost a loved one that way, have never experienced the heart-wrenching pain it must cause. I have no concept of how to speak comfort to those whose loved one has committed suicide. I can’t truly say, “I know how you feel.”
Or can I?
Like the proverbial “bucket of cold water hitting the face,” a thought struck me: What about a family member committing slow suicide from a life of alcoholism, substance abuse, and poor life choices?
That is a “suicide road” that can come with continual stress, unbelievable self-guilt, and occasions to doubt God’s power to intervene in lives. What do you do when you place an adult child in God’s hands, trusting God to miraculously change his or her course, and the loved one makes worse decisions and sinks deeper into addiction?
What do you do when even an arrest doesn’t wake them up? When they end up homeless or living in their car when temperatures dip below freezing? Or when you know they are going without food, but you also know that if you buy them food, they’ll just use their money for alcohol or drugs?
And how many “if only” and “I should have” statements can the accuser, Satan, hit you with before you buy into the lie that the loved one’s addiction is your fault, the result of your poor parenting or your neglect of a sibling, or your failure to adequately teach that loved one about God’s full salvation?
This is where we need the Word of God made real to us by the Holy Spirit. We need that Word to comfort us, to encourage our hearts, and to enable us to see that God’s sovereignty allows humans a choice. From Moses’s exhortation to “choose life” (Deut. 30:19) to Joshua’s declaration, “Choose you this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15), we see that we must, as individuals, make that choice. There is also a national choosing, too, but today’s blog focuses on individual, personal choices.
The apostle Paul had a choice whether to die and be with the Lord or live and continue his ministry (Phil. 1:22-24). He also wrote of those who “opposed themselves,” that they might “recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Tim. 2:25-26). Believers should pray for these and instruct them in meekness. This implies that the person ensnared (addicted) can make a choice to get out. It’s a matter of repentance and then letting God deliver.
The individual who has given him or herself over to substance abuse, for example, must “come to their senses” and then escape that trap of the devil. As long as they deny that they are in a trap, they will not come to their senses. Imagine a situation where soldiers go into a POW camp to free prisoners but those prisoners refuse to be rescued, claiming that they are not prisoners.
Sounds preposterous, doesn’t it. But that’s how futile and wasted our efforts can be to rescue a loved one from their choices, when they don’t desire to be rescued. There must be repentance on their part: a realization of their wrong and a sorrow for it, and a desire for change.
Until that occurs, they will continue in their course of slow suicide.
My next blog will continue this topic, showing an example from the Bible that reinforces this point. It will also bring hope.
Silenced and Silent
8/4/2020 5:18:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
The Right Way
7/13/2020 2:40:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
"Let Freedom Ring"
7/3/2020 2:38:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Caring and Sharing
6/20/2020 5:50:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
One Race -- Two Creations
6/10/2020 9:02:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
An End to Racism
6/2/2020 9:02:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
With One Voice
5/24/2020 3:38:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Trust in God
5/17/2020 3:21:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
A Firm Foundation
5/9/2020 6:35:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
No Fear!
5/2/2020 3:35:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Author of Peace, Not Confusion
4/28/2020 2:44:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Too Timid to Tell
4/24/2020 8:52:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Resurrection Promise
4/11/2020 3:54:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
God's Mercies
4/2/2020 11:04:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Yet I Will Rejoice
3/18/2020 11:22:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Slow Suicide—Part 2
3/5/2020 6:00:00 AM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Slow Suicide—Part 1
3/2/2020 6:00:00 AM by: Vicki Dorshorn
V-I-C-T-O-R-Y
2/6/2020 6:14:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
A Stable and an Empty Tomb
12/24/2019 6:01:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Do Definitions Matter?
12/17/2019 3:08:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Darkness Creeping In
11/26/2019 10:17:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
The Presence and Purpose of Pain and Sorrow
8/31/2019 9:27:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Salt and Light
8/21/2019 8:15:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Real Rainbows and True Light
8/17/2019 3:17:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
The Light of Life
8/7/2019 9:20:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
A Giant Eraser
4/23/2018 3:09:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
He Is Risen
3/30/2018 2:57:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Rejection
7/22/2015 by: Vicki Dorshorn
Liberty Bell & more
7/4/2015 3:32:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Breaking News
6/22/2015 11:26:00 AM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Cracked Foundations
6/12/2015 1:50:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Power Transformers
6/5/2015 12:27:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Transformers
5/28/2015 by: Vicki Dorshorn
What is my name?
5/20/2015 by: Vicki Dorshorn
What age is Jesus for you?
12/21/2014 8:41:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Part 2 - Stories of Sovereignty from England
11/21/2014 by: Vicki Dorshorn
Stories of Sovereignty from England
11/15/2014 7:28:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Coincidence or Sovereignty?
11/3/2014 by: Vicki Dorshorn
Time to Care
8/24/2014 10:59:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
"Lion on the Loose"
8/16/2014 5:29:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Lessons from My Garden - Part 6
8/10/2014 by: Vicki Dorshorn
Lessons from My Garden - Part 5
8/3/2014 by: Vicki Dorshorn
Lessons from My Garden - Part 4
7/27/2014 by: Vicki Dorshorn
Lessons from My Garden - Part 3
7/20/2014 3:33:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
"Lessons from My Garden -- Part 2"
7/12/2014 8:54:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Lessons From My Garden - Part 1
7/7/2014 7:23:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Dreams, Revisions, and Renewal
6/29/2014 10:30:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
A Dream that is Reality
6/21/2014 9:13:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
The Return of the Swallows
6/14/2014 by: Vicki Dorshorn
Part 2 - Where will I go when I die?
6/7/2014 2:30:40 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Where will I go when I die?
5/31/2014 9:05:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Truth or Deception
5/24/2014 5:34:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Deliverance from Falling
5/16/2014 2:30:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Deliverance from Tears
5/10/2014 8:03:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Deliverance from Death
5/3/2014 by: Vicki Dorshorn
The Significance of Death
4/27/2014 5:45:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Conclusion of Why Bad Things Happen
4/19/2014 8:35:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Good and Bad, Relatively Speaking
4/12/2014 1:18:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
The Potter and the Clay
4/5/2014 9:10:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
"Bad Things" - Part 5
3/29/2014 1:47:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
"Bad Things" - Part 4
3/21/2014 12:52:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
"Bad Things" - Part 3
3/15/2014 12:18:00 AM by: Vicki Dorshorn
"Bad Things" - Part 2
3/8/2014 1:56:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
"Bad Things" - Part I
3/1/2014 7:14:00 PM by: Vicki Dorshorn
Who are "good" people?
2/26/2014 by: Vicki Dorshorn
Why do bad things happen to good people?
2/22/2014 by: Vicki Dorshorn
