Overwhelmed: Suicide

     Many people at some point in their lives think about committing suicide.  And it's not that they are crazy, it's that they have more stress and pain than they can handle at that time.  As a teenager there were times that I struggled with thoughts of wanting to end my life, just to make everything stop.  And I know that I am not alone in this.  As we look through the pages of the Bible, we see people who were so overwhelmed that they either wanted to die or did kill themselves.
     Elijah is one of my heroes of the faith.  He did some great things through God's power and yet he came to a point that he just wanted to die.  In 1 Kings 19:4 we read, "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 fathers."  As we dig a little bit deeper, we see what lead him to a point of suicide, and what brought him back to a place of fruitful ministry for the Lord.  The first thing that we notice is that he was spiritually exhausted.  He had just finished that great confrontation on Mt. Carmel against the 850 false prophets, and had witnessed God's great power as He rained down fire from heaven.  He was physically exhausted.  He had killed the false prophets and then basically ran a marathon from Mt. Carmel to Jezreel, which is approximately 25 miles.  Needless to say, after such a long day, he was tired.  He was also emotionally exhausted.  He had spent the better part of three years in solitude, which finally got to him emotionally.  In 1 Kings 19, Elijah stresses the fact that he felt all alone.  And now on top of it, Jezebel, who had already killed other prophets of the Lord, had now promised to kill him as well.  When you add up all three of these, it equaled one thing in Elijah's life,  he was overwhelmed.
     To turn things around in Elijah's life, he got renewal in these three areas.  First, he got physically renewed.  He got some rest and ate some food.  Sometimes we are so busy that we get physically worn out and the most spiritual thing that we can do when in a state of physical exhaustion is to rest.  Secondly, he got spiritually renewed.  He got alone with God, and let God speak to him.  Psalm 119:25 says, " My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word."  The psalmist said when he felt close to death that he needed God to revive and renew him through His word.  Thirdly, he got emotionally renewed.  At the end of 1 Kings 19, we see that God sends Elijah a friend to minister unto him.  Godly friends are such a blessing!  They help encourage us when we are discouraged.  That is the most important reason that you and I are to gather together with other believers on a regular basis, so that we can encourage and strengthen one another.  So if you are feeling like you are worthless and you would be better off dead, take some time to figure out what is making you feel that way.  Are you physically, spiritually, and emotionally exhausted?  Seek out help!  Turn to a friend, a family member, or a church that can help you get renewed.  Most importantly, turn to God, who makes all things new.

Stay Connected

      We have looked at the branch that was baring no fruit, and how the caretaker brings it to the place where it will bare more fruit.  Now Jesus gets to the end of this progression, the desired result, a branch that bares much fruit.  John 15:4-5 says, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."  Here He gives us the key component for baring much fruit, it comes in the form of a command, "Abide in me".  

     We mustn't underestimate the value of just spending time with Him!  I am reminded of Jesus call to His disciples in Matthew 4:19, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."  His first call to those men, was a call just to be with Him.  To spend time with Him.  And as they spent time with Him, then something would happen that only He could do, they would be changed, they would produce fruit.  But that only comes with abiding in Him.  Shortly before Jesus was going to be killed, He took time to remind them of the very first thing that He had told them to do, and that was just be with Him.  We like to be busy doing things, trying to produce fruit on our own, but Jesus clearly tells us that without Him, without dwelling in Him, without His power and strength we cannot do or accomplish anything.  We cannot produce the fruit that He desires without Him  Are you trying to do things on your own?  Are you working to produce results, but are doing it in your own strength?  Your efforts will be futile.  We must abide in Him.  Stay connected to the vine and you will produce much fruit.

Cut It Back

     So far, the caretaker has just been concerned with the branch that is not bearing fruit.  He takes that branch and picks it up off the ground, and carefully washes the dirt and filth off of it, and ties it to the vine to keep it up off the ground.  He then turns his attention to the branch that is producing a little bit of fruit.

     John 15:2 says, "...and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."  He takes the branch that has begun to produce fruit and he purges it.  The word here for purge when referring to a vine, means to remove useless shoots.  A branch always favors new growth over producing fruit.  So if a branch is left unattended, it will continue to grow more an more shoots until it gets to the point that the shoots overtake and crowd out the areas where the grapes should grow.  The caretaker then takes out his shears and begins to cut away at the branch.

     If we are not careful, our lives can mirror what happens to this branch.  Often we assume that because we are busy, then we must be producing fruit.  But a lot of times, we fill up our lives and schedules and they begin to crowd out the fruit that God wants to produce in our lives.  So He gets out His shears and begins to cut out some things out of our lives.  This can be a painful process, but if we respond in the right way, then we will produce even more fruit for Him.  He may have to cut out some people out of our lives.  Maybe it is a hobby, or an activity that just takes up too much of our time.  It could be any number of things.  This process is similar to the runner that we find in Hebrews 12 that lays aside the weights that slow them down.  Are there some useless shoots in your life that are crowding out the fruit that God wants to produce in your life?  Ask Him to show you  what should go and what should stay.  His desire is not that we would produce a little fruit, but He wants us to produce much fruit!

Wash It Off

     Some branches grow too close to the ground, and get dirty so that they will not produce fruit.  The first thing a caretaker does to a branch that is not producing fruit is to pick up the branch.  The next thing that he does is wash it off.  John 15:3 says, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you."  The caretaker picks up that branch that has gotten dirty and carefully washes the dirt off of it so that it can once again get the nutrients that it needs to begin producing fruit.

     At times in our lives we grow to close to this world, and we get ourselves dirty.  James tells us that pure religion is to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.  Rather than trying to see how close we can get to the Son, we try to see how close we can get to the world, and we find ourselves getting dirty.  I have four daughters that I love very much.  My girls give me hugs and love to play and climb on me like I'm their personal jungle gym.  Many times when they do this, they do not always have the cleanest of hands or mouths.  My close are constantly getting hand prints on them with food and dirt.  This happens because I have a close relationship with my girls, so often I find my clothes dirty with whatever they have been doing or eating that day.  And the same is true of us spiritually.  We grow so close to the ground, that they hand prints of this world show up all over us. 

     At one such point in David's life, he wrote one of the most loved Psalms that we have in our Bibles, Psalm 51.  He had grown too close to the world, and had gotten the dirt of adultery, pride, murder, and deceit all over himself.  He began by admitting his guilt.  Over and over again in this psalm, he mentions his sin, his transgressions, and his iniquities.  We too need to acknowledge the mistakes that we have made.  We need to be honest with God and with ourselves about the dirt that we have in our lives.  He cried out to God in verse number two, "Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin."  He continues that thought in verse seven, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."  David said, "Lord, I have gotten dirty with the things of this world, and I need you to wash me."  Just like the caretaker lovingly washes off the dirty branch, God will wash off His dirty child.  Is there an area of your life that has grown too close to the world?  If there is, ask God to wash it off today.

Pick Up That Branch

     In John 15, Jesus uses an illustration of a vine to teach us about our relationship with Him.  He tells us that He is the vine, and that we are the branches.  He also gives us the progression that He would like to see in our lives.  He tells us that He wants us to go from producing no fruit, to producing much fruit.  He begins with what would be most important to the person who owns the vine, and that is the branches that are not bearing any fruit.  If a branch is not bearing fruit, then it is not profitable.
     Verse 2 begins,  "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away:"  Now the first thing that we need to pay attention to is those two words, "in me", because this branch is in contrast to those that are not in Him found in verse 5.  If you are in Him, but are not bearing fruit, He is not just going to throw you away, but instead He will pick you up.  There are branches on the vine that grow too close to the ground.  They get mud, dirt and filth all over their leaves and so they are unable to produce the fruit that they should.  When this happens, the caretaker of the vine comes along and picks this branch up off of the ground.  That is the meaning behind "taketh away" in verse number 2.  It means "to raise up, elevate, or lift up".
     When we aren't producing the fruit that God wants us to, He comes along and picks us up.  Many times in our lives we grow too close to the world, and we get the mud, dirt and filth of this world all over us, so that we no longer produce the fruit that we are supposed to produce.  The Bible is filled with people who at one time or another grew too close to the world.  David is a good example.  He grew close to the world and got the filth of adultery and murder all over him.  David needed God to pick him up.  What about you?  Are you growing too close to the world?  Have you gotten the filth of the world all over you?  Ask God to pick you up today.  In our next article, we will look at the second thing a caretaker does to a branch that is not producing fruit, and that is he cleans it off.

Starving

     Some very tragic news has come out of Philadelphia this week as a 3 year old girl has died.  What makes the news so sad is the way that she died, which was by starvation.  At the time of her death, she weighed in at only 11lbs, approximately one third of a normal three year old.  There have been a few cases just like this one that have come out recently, and it blows my mind to think that someone can do this to a child that is under their care.
     But it also reminds me of many homes and churches where people are starving spiritually.  We provide people with entertainment instead of the nutrition that they need from God's Word.  Jesus, Himself, said,  "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."  It is important as leaders in our homes and churches that we give the Word of God out to those who are under our authority.  All over this nation there are people who are starving spiritually.  And just as this little girl's parents had a responsibility to provide for her needs, we too have a responsibility to provide for the spiritual needs of those around us.  Just as this girl's parents will be held accountable for how they took care of her, or in this case failed to take care of her, we will be held accountable by God for how we have fed His people that He placed within our care.  We have been commanded to "feed the flock", are we being obedient to this command?
     We need to feed our families by having family devotions, and prayer time together.  We feed our families by teaching them songs that have a Biblical emphasis.  We need to feed the people in our church by preaching the Word of God instead of our own opinions.  By proclaiming the truth of Scripture instead of merely telling stories.  By having Bible classes that dig down deep into the text, instead of dishing out a shallow faith.  Don't let those who are under your care starve to death spiritually.  Let's do what Jesus commands us to do, and that is feed His people.

Getting Past Your Past

     We have all made mistakes in our lives.  Getting over those mistakes can be difficult, but it is possible.  We should learn the lesson from those mistakes, but not let the mistake itself dominate our lives.  The Bible is full of accounts of men and women who failed and got up again to serve the Lord.  One such person was Peter.  On the night that Jesus was betrayed, He let Peter know that he would deny Him.  Peter quickly blurted out, "Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee."  A little while later Jesus is taken captive and Peter runs away and out of fear he watches the events unfold from a distance.

     While Peter was watching, a maid came unto him and said, "Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee."  Peter in fear denies Jesus before all of them.  To get away from them, he moves out onto the porch where another maid recognizes him and says, "This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth."  Peter tells them that he doesn't even know who Jesus is.  Some time later others came to Peter and said that you must have been with Jesus because you don't talk like a Galilean fisherman.  Immediately Peter begins to curse and to swear denying that he knew Jesus.  At that point the rooster crowed and he remembered what Jesus had said, and he went out and wept.  Peter was overcome by guilt.

     After Jesus' resurrection, Peter is having a hard time getting over the mistake that he had made in denying Christ and he quits the ministry.  He decides that he is going to go back to his old lifestyle and be a fisherman again.  He allows his past mistakes to keep him down.  Rather than being who God wanted him to be, he allowed his past mistakes to dictate who he was going to be.  He spends some time with Jesus and is confronted on his love for the Savior.  At that point Peter decides to get over his mistakes and moves on to serve Christ.  Just a few months later, Peter stands up and preaches and 3,000 people get saved.  All because he chose to get over his past.  Once Jesus has forgiven us of our mistakes, we need to forgive ourselves and move on.  Learn the lessons from your mistakes, and get past your past.