Suicide is a difficult subject. Yes, I am going to give counsel to everyone who is in the throes of despair, but please don’t stop taking medication, or going to counseling or other acceptable ways of trying to conquer the torment that might drive you to feel that life is not worth living. Instead, simply add the biblically based action I will recommend, to what you are already doing. I am not going to try to define depression or promise a simple formula to make it go away, I am going to, in the words of the Bible, “add to your faith.” 2 Peter 1:15

Last Sunday night, Robin Williams retired to a remote bedroom in his house while his wife Susan slept elsewhere and took his own life; an assistant found him around noon the next day. I am not implicating his wife for anything, but doesn’t that sound like a lonely existence?

I am saddened today by the death of Robin Williams. Not that he mattered more than other humans or that he was more significant than the other 38,000 plus who take their own life every year, because Robin Williams represents everything that is supposed to make us happy. He had more wealth than he could ever consume, more achievement that anyone reading this will ever aspire to, more people who admired him and loved him than any of us, and unlimited resources to deal with personal issues like depression.

One of his children asked, “Why would he want to leave us, when he knew we loved him so much?” (Not an exact quote.) Here’s a few things we know, but none of them definitely answer the why question that nags at us. Again, I am not saying celebrities are more important than regular folks like you and me, it just seems their intentional self destruction is more of a contradiction.

Robin Williams admitted to a struggle with depression. He had known struggles with alcohol & drug abuse at times. He had shared in an interview with Parade Magazine last year that he had been forced to change his lifestyle because of the thirty million dollars that he lost in two divorces. We are also hearing that he may have been in the early stages of Parkinson’s diseas.

He said he returned to television because he had “bills to pay.” He was forced to list his 654 acre Napa Valley Estate for sale. Villa Sorriso (Valley of Smiles) has been on the market for 29.9 million dollars since April. The television show that was supposed to pay those bills failed.

I am not sure how the facts that I have mentioned played into this great entertainers tragic departure from the stage, but I am positive I know why he chose to end it all. One simple word; it’s a word I am familiar with. I have felt the chilling grip of this word around my throat and been punched in the gut by it myself. Fortunately, I had a moment of clarity when I saw a vision of my family, my church, my eternity and Christ shouting from the cross, “I died for you.” It was in that hour that I have pushed back on the adjective that killed, Clark Gable, Freddy Prinz, Ernest Hemingway, Robin Williams and over thirty eight thousand Americans last year. The adjective I am referring to is hopeless.

I don’t know which of the problems Mr. Williams attached the word “hopeless” to. Was it the depression, the addiction, the finances, failure at intimacy, illness, something unknown or all of the above, that got to him? Hopeless according to Webster is, “impossible to overcome or accomplish.” Hopeless is a pain that will make you do something. You can’t just decide that things are hopeless and be the same. I propose to you that hopelessness is unbearable. Hopeless people are dangerous to themselves and others.

I wish I had a simple and brilliant formula for getting and giving hope. But you better fight for it, because even if you don’t fashion a belt into a noose and hang yourself, you will smother something in you that gives life to others like love and joy. We may not be able to have a funeral for you but you will be one of the dead walking. There are many zombies among us because of this problem of hopelessness.

I’ll tell you what has rescued me from despair more than once. It’s going to sound too elementary for some. If you want something complex, you’re reading the wrong blog. For me, going from hopelessness to hope has revolved around one single decision and that is the decision to believe that God is there when no one else is and that God is enough

I cannot adequately describe to you the power of this decision. This is not white-knuckle faith. This is not positive thinking. This is not gritting your teeth and being tough. This is not tough-minded stoicism. This is surrender of oneself to the sovereignty of God. This is being positive that God is good, great and gracious when life seems everything but good, great and gracious.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 (NLT) 17 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.

Habakkuk 3:17 is the declaration of a would be hopeless man or woman. I know it sounds crazy but it’s actually the sanest sentences anyone has ever strung together. Why, because in the end, God is all a man or woman has anyway. I’ve noticed that even the most amazing spouses, incredible children, successful careers and material wealth don’t go to the crematorium to share the journey to eternity with the deceased. So you better have your hope in God.

Listen, I have found a lot of acceptable and healthy ways to elevate my mood and I plan to continue doing them. However, the activity that has kept my name out of the obituaries is mentally and verbally declaring, “I am holding on to you, I am holding on to you, In the middle of the storm I am holding on.” David Crowder