How Can God Be Sovereign Over Suicide?

If God is sovereign over all things, is he also sovereign over the circumstances that push someone to commit suicide? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity.

You can also email us with your question at questions at corechristianity.com. First up today, for some pet owners, the idea of going without their smartphone is scarier than being without their furry friend. Simple Texting, an online marketing platform, surveyed over a thousand American smartphone users to see what sacrifices they would make to stay connected through their cell phone. Well, it turns out that when phone-obsessed pet owners are asked to pick between their pet or their phone, close to half say they'd be willing to part ways with their pet for a full month if they could just keep their smartphone. But, Adriel, pets still have romantic partners beat. The same survey found that 44% of respondents would give up seeing their significant other for a month in order to keep their smartphone in hand. Okay, that is depressing, Bill. Oh, man, that's terrible.

I guess compared to the smartphone, your spouse is like, yeah, so long as I have my smartphone. See you, honey. See you in 30 days. Oh, gosh.

No, no, no. It just goes to show that there's this huge issue in society today where, one, we put our smartphones before people and we put dogs before people. And I see it all the time. The neighborhood where I live, I mean, there are just so many dogs and I love dogs. I'm not against dogs or whatnot, but it just seems like, I don't know, sometimes I think we can take it a little bit over the top. You know, what are these, you know, the dog birth announcements, you know, like someone's joining the family, that kind of thing. I just, I don't know about that, Bill.

Dog birth announcements. Okay, let's get to our first question. Emma posted this on our Instagram account and she says, in Mark chapter 9, after Jesus freed a boy from a demon that his disciples couldn't command, he tells them it would only come out through prayer and fasting. Can Christians really get rid of demons through prayer and fasting?

Well, what a transition there, Bill. I mean, from the dogs and the cell phones to, can we cast it? Well, I mean, if Jesus said it, Emma, we want to go with his word. Now, it's kind of interesting because that passage that you're referring to in Mark 9, you know, there are some manuscripts that don't include the and fasting part. So for example, I use the ESV Bible in Mark 9, 29, and he said to them, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.

There's really no contradiction there. I mean, fasting is just a part of prayer. It's, in one sense, it's intense prayer.

It's saying I'm going to set aside food and focus upon the Lord and on prayer. And I would say that the answer to your question is yes. And first, let me just talk about the reality of spiritual warfare. It's something that I think we, especially in the United States, need to realize. I've heard stories that would make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, especially where the gospel is advancing on the front lines. You think of missionaries in remote places. I mean, there's active spiritual warfare taking place, but it's not just there. And I think sometimes we can assume as Christians here in the United States that that's where the real battle is happening.

It's also here. There's a spiritual war happening right now in your house, in your church, in your community. And you know what the primary battle stance that you're supposed to have as a Christian is?

It's on your knees in prayer. And I think that's what Jesus is saying here in Mark 9. Prayer, when it comes to spiritual warfare, is central. And it's the exact same thing that the Apostle Paul said in the book of Ephesians. If you just want to turn to Ephesians chapter 6, the passage where Paul talks about the armor of God, in Ephesians chapter 6, beginning in verse 10, listen to what the Apostle Paul said. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand, stand firm. Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And then, Emma, listen to what Paul says in verse 18. Praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. We're called to pray.

That's, as I said, the chief battle stance. We're praying against the powers of darkness, and the Lord's prayer that Jesus gave us. He taught us to pray, deliver us from evil, or the evil one. See, we are in this spiritual battle, and prayer is the primary tool, and so we direct our eyes to the Lord. We don't fight the devil by trying to spiritually karate chop the powers of darkness or something.

It's not weird, and I think sometimes we can kind of get a little bit weird when we think about spiritual warfare. No, we stand on God's word, on the truth of scripture, and we direct our eyes to the Lord, and we pray, God, let your kingdom come and deliver us from the evil one. We have the promise in scripture that the gates of hell are not going to prevail against the church, and the gospel is advancing. That's how Satan's kingdom is being plundered today, and so we pray for that continued advancement, and that's how we engage in the battle.

Yes, Emma, I know he's right. He's the son of God when he says this kind doesn't come out except by prayer, except by prayer and fasting, and we need to take that to heart. We need to pray to engage in the battle that we are in, the battle for our very souls and the souls of the people around us. And so let's commit to that, sister. God bless you.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez, and here's an email question that came in from Warren. He says, if God is sovereign over all things, how can we not also say he is sovereign over the circumstances that push someone to suicide?

I mean, he has to know the circumstances he allows in someone's life and their ability to handle it, be it a mental illness or what have you. I feel like I'm faking it every day, and I have lost the joy I used to have and the things I used to love. I cry uncle, but God doesn't let up. Warren, let's begin just by praying.

I want to pray for you. Father, lift Warren up to you, Lord. I ask gracious God that you would cause your light to shine upon him. In this dark place that he's at right now, I pray that Jesus, the light of the world, would illuminate his darkness. And I ask, Lord, that you would surround him with a support system with people that he can be encouraged by. I pray, Lord, if he doesn't have help, Lord, professional help even, Lord, that you would guide him, that you would bring the right people into his life who can encourage him. But Lord, we pray just for your mercy to be upon him, and ask God that you would encourage him now, even through this answer.

In Jesus' name, amen. The first thing that came to my mind was, do you have a support system? It sounds like you are battling with some very difficult things right now. The first thing I would say is you need to get help. Reach out to a counselor or a therapist, and maybe you have that, maybe you don't. A lot of people, they feel this deep sense of shame, even though they don't necessarily have to, because they feel like there's something wrong with, why do I feel so depressed?

I think it might be a wise thing for you if you don't have a counselor or a therapist to consider pursuing that and getting some help. And also, reach out to your church. I'm assuming that you're in a local church that preaches the truth, that loves Jesus, that wants to love his people. You need people around you who can be praying for you. We need prayer.

We just talked about that battle that we're all in. We need the prayers of the saints. We need that in people who can encourage you and just help you to know that you're not alone and you're not alone. Just thinking about what the scripture teaches, you know someone else who cried uncle and felt burdened beyond his ability to do anything. I think of the Apostle Paul and his words in 2 Corinthians 1, verse 8. We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.

Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. I've heard people say, and I'm sure that you have too, God will never give you more than you can handle. And those same people, when they experience great difficulty, they're either really confused and wondering, well, God, how could you do this?

You promised never to give me more than I can handle. Or they're assuming that they can handle this because they bought into this saying, God's never going to give you more than you can handle. And so they're trying in their own strength to handle whatever it is that they're going through, when in reality, that's a misinterpretation of what Paul says somewhere else, where it says that God will never tempt us beyond what we're able. But sometimes God does give us more than we can handle. Paul says we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength, that is to say, God gave me more than I could handle.

And it sounds like you feel like you're there right now. And Paul says, why did God do that? That was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. And so we turn to the God who raises the dead, even though at times we feel like we're in the dust of death. Someone else who I think could empathize with you is the psalmist in Psalm 88.

The psalmist there says, O Lord my God, the God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. I'm saying, Uncle, let my prayer come before you, incline your ear to my cry, for my soul is full of troubles and my life draws near to Sheol, near to the grave. I am counted among those who go down to the pit. I am a man who has no strength, like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand. You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. You have caused my companions to shun me. You have made me a horror to them.

I am shut in and I cannot escape. My eye grows dim through sorrow every day. I call upon you, O Lord.

I spread out my hands to you. Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you?

Is your steadfast love declared in the grave and your faithfulness in Abaddon? Are your wonders known in the darkness or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But I, O Lord, cry to you in the morning my prayer comes before you. O Lord, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me, afflicted and close to death from my youth up? I suffer your terrors.

I am helpless. Your wrath has swept over me. Your dreadful assaults destroy me. They surround me like a flood all day long. They close in on me together. You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me. My companions have become darkness. Sometimes that's how the people of God feel, Warren.

Someone else who can sympathize with you in your weakness? Jesus. The author of the Hebrews says he was made like we are in all ways so that he might sympathize with us in our weakness. He knows what it is to be in the dark pit when he was on the cross.

Darkness covered the land. He was bearing the curse, the wrath of God for our sins. He knows what it is to be forsaken by his friends, by his loved ones, to feel that sense of distance from the Father even. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Quoting Psalm 22, Jesus knows the darkness that you feel. So you can turn to him. And even if you don't feel his presence, even if it feels like the prayers that you pray to him are bouncing off of the ceiling like you're getting nothing, know this, Warren, the Lord hears you.

Why does God give us these Psalms as inspired scripture if he doesn't want us to be comforted by them? Look, I know I've gone on and on, but I just want to read you something. This was actually written by Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers to ever live, but also a man who struggled intensely with depression. And he tells a story.

Listen to what he says. He says, One Sabbath morning I preached from the text, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And though I did not say so, yet I preached my own experience. I heard my own chains clank while I tried to preach to my fellow prisoners in the dark. But I could not tell why I was brought into such an awful horror of darkness for which I condemned myself. On the following Monday evening, a man came to see me who bore all the marks of despair upon his countenance. His hair seemed to stand upright.

His eyes were ready to start from their sockets. He said to me after a little parlaying, I never before in my life heard any man speak who seemed to know my heart. Mine is a terrible case, but on Sunday morning you painted me to the life and preached as if you had been inside my soul. By God's grace, I saved that man from suicide and led him into the gospel light and liberty. And I know I could not have done it if I had not myself been confined in the dungeon in which he lay. I tell you the story, brethren, because you sometimes may not understand your own experience, and the perfect people may condemn you for having it.

But what know they of God's servants? You and I have to suffer much for the sake of the people of our charge. You may be an Egyptian darkness, and you may wonder why such a horror chills your marrow, but you may be altogether in the pursuit of your calling and be led of the spirit to a position of sympathy with desponding minds.

Or an I-don't-know-why-you're-experiencing-the-darkness-that-you-feel. I can tell you that God is sovereign and that he calls us when we feel burdened beyond our despair, which we do experience in the Christian life, to turn to him, the one who raises the dead, the one who gives us hope. And so turn to him, brother. Get the encouragement and the help that you need, whether that's professional encouragement and help through a therapist and also the help of the body of Christ. Pursue that and rest in the fact that God knows you, God knows the darkness that you're in, and God sent his son Jesus into that darkness for your sake.

God bless you. Adriel, I know that Warren is not alone, and chances are we have other listeners who are dealing with depression right now or even thoughts of suicide. We should mention the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which is 800-273-8255. We also have an excellent resource available here at CORE Christianity that we should let our listeners know about.

Yeah, thanks, Bill. This is so important. And as you say, there are so many people right now who struggle with this.

You, listening, you might be struggling with this. And so that's why we made this resource. It's called Nine Things Everyone Needs to Know About Depression. It's free when you sign up for our weekly newsletter. We created this resource to give a foundational understanding of what depression is and how Christians can best help someone who suffers from depression.

So go to corechristianity.com forward slash offers to download Nine Things Everyone Needs to Know About Depression. You can also call us for that resource or any one of our resources. Here's the phone number. It's 833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE. We would love to send that to you.

Even if you're not experiencing depression, chances are you know somebody in your life who is, and this could be tremendously helpful to them. Well, let's get back to another question, Adriel. This one came in from Abby, and she says, If God is love, why do so many of his prophets warn about his fierce judgment and fiery wrath? Did they not speak for him? That's a great question, and I think sometimes we can sort of pit those two things against each other, but one of the reasons we believe that God does exercise judgment is because of his love. Because God loves his people, he defends them. Because God loves humanity, he hates that which harms humanity's sin.

And so we don't have to pit these two against each other. The prophets, they did speak for the Lord. This is one of the big ways to distinguish between the true prophets and the false prophets in the Old Testament. Actually, false prophets were not sent by him, and they didn't speak from him.

They didn't speak the message that they received from him, but they spoke a message of their own imagination. The true prophets were sent by him, and he placed his word in them. You think of prophets like Jeremiah or Isaiah. And again, one of the big distinguishing marks between the true and the false prophets was their message. You know what the false prophets were characterized by? They were characterized by being unwilling to talk about the wrath of God and the judgment of God and to call out Israel for her sin. Listen to what God told the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 6. This is verses 13 through 15.

For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain. And from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people, lightly saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abominations? No, they were not at all ashamed.

They did not know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall at the time that I punish them. They shall be overthrown, says the Lord. You see, the false prophets, they brought a message of, hey, God loves you. Nothing bad is going to happen.

Everything is fine. Do whatever you want. Live however you want. Israel was in sin from head to toe, idolatry. And yet these prophets were unwilling to heal them. They heal the wound of my people lightly. They say, peace, peace, where there is no peace.

Let me just say, this is the same issue that we have with false teachers today. Jesus just wants you to have your best life now. Go ahead, live however you want, think whatever you want.

God is kind of here to serve you, to make you happy, to make you rich and wealthy. And there's no talk of repentance. There's no talk of sin. There's no talk of the lordship of Christ.

There's really no talk of the gospel. Jesus did not come to make you happy and healthy and wealthy. You know what he came to do? To take away your sin. John the Baptist, when he saw Jesus, he said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He came to deal with the problem of our rebellion against God. The fact that we were justly condemned by God's righteous law. That there was nothing we could do to justify ourselves, to save ourselves, because we had gone off our own way.

Like the prophet Isaiah says, all we like sheep had gone astray, but the Lord has laid the iniquity of us all upon him. You see, it's the love of God for us that drove Jesus to bear our sins upon the cross, to redeem us so that we might be saved, justified, so that we would no longer be under God's wrath. And that's precisely what John says. You know that passage that everyone knows, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Well, listen to what else John said in that same chapter, a verse that's not as well known as John 3.16. In John chapter 3, verses 31 and following, we read this, he who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony.

Stop right there. You know why that's such an interesting statement. What John is doing here is he's telling us Jesus is the true and ultimate prophet of God. In Jeremiah 23, verses 16 through 18, especially verse 18, it talks about how the true prophets, they bear witness to what they see and hear, the false prophets, they don't. John is identifying Jesus as the true prophet who came from above to us to give us God's very message. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.

For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. You see, God's wrath and God's love, they don't have to be fed against it. It's not like because God has wrath he's not loving.

No, he has wrath precisely because he loves his people and he hates sin. And the good news of the gospel is that in Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven and the wrath of God has been stayed through the sacrifice of Jesus for you. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this podcast. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.