How can we keep from doing something reckless in our desperation? - Despair - TouchPoints

2 Samuel 12:18-25Then on the seventh day the child died. David’s advisers were afraid to tell him. “He wouldn’t listen to reason while the child was ill,” they said. “What drastic thing will he do when we tell him the child is dead?” When David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions, and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate. His advisers were amazed. “We don’t understand you,” they told him. “While the child was still living, you wept and refused to eat. But now that the child is dead, you have stopped your mourning and are eating again.” David replied, “I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, ‘Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me.”

Linger in the Lord’s presence. His wisdom and comfort keeps us from acting rashly.

Judges 11:30-31, 34Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. He said, “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give to the Lord whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” . . . When Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, his daughter came out to meet him, playing on a tambourine and dancing for joy. She was his one and only child; he had no other sons or daughters.

Proverbs 20:25Don’t trap yourself by making a rash promise to God and only later counting the cost.

Ecclesiastes 5:2Don’t make rash promises, and don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few.

One of the wisest things we can do is to never make a rash promise in a moment of desperation. When we are desperate, our survival instincts take over; we think we are closer to doom than we really are and we are willing to make impulsive promises we would never have made otherwise.

Psalm 42:5-6Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!

Isaiah 8:17I will wait for the Lord, who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my hope in him.

We need to wait for the Lord’s solution, not our own. He is wiser than we are, with solutions for tomorrow, not just for this minute. While we wait, we can remember that he is good and will be with us in whatever comes next.

Exodus 14:10-11As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt?”

Our natural response when things go wrong is to panic. But we must fight the urge to panic and blame others. Otherwise, we may not only lose our cool, but also lose our friends and loved ones.

Genesis 19:30-38Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters. One day the older daughter said to her sister, “There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can’t get married like everyone else. And our father will soon be too old to have children. Come, let’s get him drunk with wine, and then we will have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.” So that night they got him drunk with wine, and the older daughter went in and had intercourse with her father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again. . . . As a result, both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their own father.

In times of desperation, any solution can seem like a good one. But we should never resort to any solution that leads to breaking God’s laws. We should always think and seek God’s wisdom before we act.

Acts 19:34-38“Citizens of Ephesus,” [the mayor] said. . . . “You should stay calm and not do anything rash. You have brought these men here, but they have stolen nothing from the temple and have not spoken against our goddess. If Demetrius and the craftsmen have a case against them, the courts are in session and the officials can hear the case at once. Let them make formal charges.”

We should respect the proper channels of authority at all times.

Numbers 11:15“If this is how you intend to treat me, just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery!”

1 Kings 19:3-5Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”

Job 7:15“I would rather be strangled—rather die than suffer like this.”

Jonah 4:3“Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”

Deep despair may create a desire for our own death. But God’s plans never include taking your own life. We can take comfort in the fact that Moses, Elijah, Job, and Jonah had moments of great despair, yet God brought them out of their despair and used them in great ways. God loves each one of us as much as he loved these great heroes of the faith, and he will help us in our moments of despair too.