NOT SHAKEN

We opened an email that was sent to Our Daily Bread Ministries. It didn’t have a name at the bottom, and it looked like it had been sent from a ‘fake’ email address (meaning the sender didn’t want a reply). The email simply said, “By the time you read this, I will have committed suicide. I trusted Jesus two years ago. But lately my world has been crumbling around me. I can’t take it anymore. I can’t fall again or be ‘bad’ anymore. God and I have drifted apart . . . Lord, help me.”

Most people who take their own lives do so when they are deeply depressed. Reality has become distorted, and they can’t see any other way out or forward. But God wants to be our safety and refuge (PSALM 16:1), just as He has been for all of His people through the ages. David continued in Psalm 16 by saying he was “glad” (V.9) even in his struggles. Why? “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I shall not be shaken” (V.8).

If you feel like despair is closing in and you are out of options, God is here to be your way forward. If you are at the end of your strength, rely on His. He has great plans for you: “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with

joy in your presence” (V.11).