Should I have seen the warning signs of my loved one’s suicide? - Suicide - TouchPoints

1 Samuel 16:7“The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Psalm 139:2You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

There are warning signs of suicide—giving away possessions, isolating from friends and family, talking about being a burden, acting out in aggression, and many others. Yet these signs can be confusing, especially for someone who hasn’t been trained to recognize them. Often, a suicidal person will even seem to be improving in the days before their death. While it is good to be attentive to others and their needs, we should recognize that we are not God. We cannot see what is truly going on in someone’s inner thoughts, and it isn’t healthy to lay guilt on ourselves for that limitation.

Matthew 23:37“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.”

Romans 9:2-3My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.

Free will is a beautiful and a terrible thing. Someone can choose to love and trust Jesus as their Savior, or they can choose to mock and reject him. Jesus longed for the salvation of the Jewish people and sacrificed everything to make it possible. Paul, too, offered everything he had to give in order to open his people’s eyes to the truth. Yet many still chose to reject that salvation. In a similar way, we can offer love, truth, and comfort to suicidal friends and family, but even if we do everything perfectly, we cannot control the choices of others.