Can a believer have suicidal thoughts? - Suicide - TouchPoints

Jeremiah 15:10Then I said, “What sorrow is mine, my mother. Oh, that I had died at birth! I am hated everywhere I go.”

Jeremiah 20:14-18I curse the day I was born! May no one celebrate the day of my birth. . . . Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame.

Jeremiah was a faithful prophet who always spoke God’s truth, yet terrible things happened to him during his ministry. He was mocked, tortured, and imprisoned. He saw his nation—and even God’s Temple in Jerusalem—destroyed by invaders. He watched his people and his nation, still unrepentant, scattered into exile in foreign lands. Even though he kept serving God faithfully, there were times he wished he had never been born to experience all these tragedies.

Job 1:1There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil.

Job 1:19-22“The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.” Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. . . . In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.

Job 3:1-17At last Job spoke, and he cursed the day of his birth. . . . “Why wasn’t I buried like a stillborn child, like a baby who never lives to see the light? For in death the wicked cause no trouble, and the weary are at rest.”

Job was a blameless man, a man of complete integrity. Even after losing his wealth, his health, and people he loved, Job stayed faithful to God. Yet Job also longed for escape from his pain, even wishing he had never been born. Having suicidal thoughts does not make you weak or an inferior believer.

1 Kings 18:36-39At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. . . .” Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!”

1 Kings 19:1-4When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal. So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them.” Elijah 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 who have already died.”

After years of Elijah’s faithful service, lsrael finally saw beyond the shadow of a doubt that Elijah served the one true God. Yet somehow, this great victory only led to more persecution from Ahab and Jezebel. Sometimes, we may feel as though our ministry and our purpose on earth has reached a dead end. Even Elijah, one of the most famous prophets of all time, experienced doubt, hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts.