How Have the Saints Dealt With Suicide?
(Titus 2:13). The Scriptures contain some unflattering and frank depictions about how the Saints have been tempted to commit suicide; but, our God presents the Truth for the benefit of those who will profit by It. "12 For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him With Whom We Have To Do" (Hebrews 4:12-13). Since no man can enter Heaven, dying in impenitence from the sin of suicide, the lack of success of an attempted suicide may yet indicate that the despondent one is elect. "Then said Jesus again unto them, I go My way, and ye shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come" (John 8:21).
Elijah's Thoughts of Suicide. Elijah had successfully encountered, defeated, and slain the prophets of Baal (1Kings 18:19-40), but then the wicked Queen Jezebel quickly threatened to kill Elijah. "2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time. 3 And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my father's" (19:2-4).
But, why would Elijah flee from this wicked woman, much less to seek the LORD to end his life, when he had already defeated 450 prophets of Baal? Because the" spirit and courage he had before were of the Lord, and not of himself; and that those who have the greatest zeal and courage for religion, for God, and his worship, his truths and ordinances, if left to themselves, become weak and timorous" (from "An Exposition of the Old and New Testament" by John Gill, commenting on 1Kings 19:3). "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength" (Isaiah 40:29). The secret of the strength and power in the life of the Saints, is that it comes from God-- and, is willingly received by faith. "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness" (41:10).
The question of how Elijah dealt with his suicidal thoughts is more of a description of how God restored spiritual equilibrium to His fearful and despondent prophet.
• First, the LORD mercifully sustained Elijah. "5 And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. 6 And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again" (1Kings 19:5-6). Likewise, "it is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not" (Lamentations 3:22).
• Second, the LORD majestically demonstrated His power to Elijah. "And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire" (1Kings 19:11-12). We also recall that it is "not by [our] might, nor by [our] power, but by My Spirit, saith the LORD of Hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).
• Third, the LORD calmly spoke to Elijah with a small, comfortable voice. "And after the fire a Still Small Voice" (1Kings 19:12).
In like manner, the Father has comforted us with the gentleness of His powerful hands. "18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. 19 I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him" (Isaiah 57:18-19).
• And, finally, the LORD humbled Elijah with the Truth that Elijah was not alone. "Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him" (1Kings 19:18). Only when we have been humbled by the Almighty, are we truly turned back to Him. "Turn thou us unto Thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old" (Lamentations 5:21).
Christian and Hopeful's Struggle With Suicide in Doubting Castle. John Bunyan's allegory of "The Pilgrim's Progress" (1678) --- brought both CHRISTIAN and HOPEFUL into Doubting Castle after having taken an ill-advised shortcut through By-Path Meadow, i.e., "said CHRISTIAN, 'here is the easiest going'". "And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way" (Numbers 21:4).
Their newly acquired travelling companion, "VAIN-CONFIDENCE, by name", walked before them until the "night came on", and "not seeing the way before him, fell into a deep pit." "For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed" (Isaiah 9:16). Immediately, both CHRISTIAN and HOPEFUL sensed that they had in advisedly chosen their way. They began to struggle their way back, but with little success. "Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard" (Proverbs 13:15).
Sleep overtook them, and when they awoke, GIANT DESPAIR had snared them. "'You have this night trespassed on me, by trampling in and lying on my grounds; and therefore you must go along with me'... The giant, therefore, drove them before him, and put them into his castle, into a very dark dungeon, nasty and stinking to the spirit of these two men." "Lover and friend hast Thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness" (Psalm 88:18). "Here then they lay, from Wednesday morning till Saturday night, without one bit of bread, or drop of drink, or any light, or any to ask how they did."
Then, GIANT DESPAIR's wife, DIFFIDENCE, advised the Giant that "he should beat them without any mercy." "Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand" (Micah 2:1).
"Then he falls upon them, and beats them fearfully, in such sort, that they were not able to help themselves, or to turn them upon the floor. This done, he withdraws and leaves them, there to condole their misery, and to mourn under their distress." "Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee" (Jeremiah 2:19).
"The next night, she talking with her husband about them further, and understanding that they were yet alive, did advise him to counsel them to make away with themselves. So when morning was come, he goes to them in a surly manner, as before; and perceiving them to be very sore with the stripes that he had given them the day before, he told them that since they were never like to come out of that place, their only way would be, forthwith to make an end of themselves, either with knife, halter, or poison:
'For why,' said he, 'should you choose life, seeing it is attended with so much bitterness?'" "5 Then the devil taketh Him up into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone" (Matthew 4:5-6). In the same way that the devil would have had an eternal victory in securing the soul of Jesus by the sin of suicide; in like manner, the Giant's wife, as the devil's advocate, would have secured the souls of CHRISTIAN and HOPEFUL in a devil's hell, through the sin of suicide.
"'Brother,' said CHRISTIAN, 'what shall we do? the life that we now live is miserable: for my part I know not whether is best--to live thus, or to die out of hand. 'My soul chooses strangling rather than life'-- 'So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life' (Job 7:15)-- and the grave is more easy for me than this dungeon. Shall we be ruled by the Giant?'
Hopeful replied, 'Indeed our present condition is dreadful, and death would be far more welcome to me than thus for ever to abide; but yet let us consider, the Lord of the country to which we are going hath said, 'Thou shalt do no murder,' [Matthew 19:18] no, not to another man's person. Much more, then, are we forbidden to take his counsel to kill ourselves. Besides, he that kills another can but commit murder upon his body; but for one to kill himself, is to kill body and soul at once. And, moreover, my brother, thou talkest of ease in the grave; but hast thou forgotten the hell, whither for certain the murderers go? 'for no murderer hath eternal life' [1John 3:15].
And let us consider again, that all the law is not in the hand of GIANT DESPAIR; others, so far as I can understand, have been taken by him as well as we, and yet have escaped out of his hand: who knows but that God who made the world may cause that GIANT DESPAIR may die that, at some time or other, he may forget to lock us in?--or, but he may in a short time have another of his fits before us, and may lose the use of his limbs? And if ever that should come to pass again, for my part I am resolved to pluck up the heart of a man, and to try my utmost to get from under his hand. I was a fool that I did not try to do it before; but however, my brother, let us be patient, and endure awhile; the time may come that may give us a happy release; but let us not be our own murderers.'"
"Well, on Saturday, about midnight the pilgrims began to pray; and continued in prayer till almost break of day. Now a little before it was day, good CHRISTIAN, as one half amazed, break out in this passionate speech: 'What a fool,' quoth he, 'am I, thus to lie in a stinking dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty! I have a key in my bosom called Promise; that will, I am persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle.' Then said HOPEFUL, 'That's good news; good brother, pluck it out of thy bosom, and try.' Then CHRISTIAN pulled it out of his bosom, and began to try at the dungeon door; whose bolt (as he turned the key) gave back, and the door flew open with ease: and CHRISTIAN and HOPEFUL both came out."
And so, good Bunyan delivers CHRISTIAN and HOPEFUL from Suicide, GIANT DESPAIR, and DOUBTING CASTLE with the Key of Promise. "3 According as His Divine Power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto Life and Godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us Exceeding Great and Precious Promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine Nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2Peter 1:3-4). The secret to the Promises is that they are "according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). "For all the Promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2Corinthians 1:20). So then, deliverance from despair and suicide comes from Christ Jesus. "He that spared not His Own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).
Note: The above illustrations come from our presentation of "The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan, complete with Part 1 and Part 2 - Both Parts 1 and 2 are annotated with the full text of Bunyan's Scripture references. John Bunyan's dream, written from a prison cell, has become the most famous allegory in English literature. Written almost three hundred fifty years ago, this book has been read in prim parlours, in sophisticated drawing rooms, in royal households, in religion classes, in schoolrooms, in family worship- and still it is read by all those who, too, would be a pilgrim.