Four servants of God who battled fierce despair

It’s good to remember servants of God who battled despair.

• Job – “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb. Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed? For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest. …Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?” (Job 3:10-13, 16). 
• Moses – “I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin” (Numbers 11:14-15).
• Elijah – “Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them. Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors’” (I Kings 19:1-4).
• Jonah – “When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live” (see: Jonah 4:1-10).

Each one reached an extremely low point in life. Although none (to our knowledge) attempted suicide (each saw it as God’s right to end life), all of them felt that life was no longer worth living. God graciously restored his servants through a variety of methods. Thank God for His gracious restoration!

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us” (II Corinthians 1:3-4).

turning to the merciful Father and source of all comfort,

Steve Cornell