Today’s Scripture Reading (October 23, 2016): 1 Kings 19
The World Health Organization paints this picture of Global Suicide –
- - Suicide kills over 800,000 people every year. There are many more who attempt suicide but are not successful in taking their own life. That means that literally millions of people are affected by suicide each and every year – either by attempting suicide or by mourning what suicide has stolen away from us.
- - Suicide occurs at all ages in life from young to old. No age group is immune.
- - Suicide was the second leading cause of death among 15-29-year-olds in 2012 (the most recent year for which the World Health Organization has data.) For me, this past summer there were two people connected to my family from this age group who were successful at committing suicide.
- - Suicide is a global phenomenon. No region of the world seems to be immune.
- - In 2012, 75% of global suicides occurred in low and middle-income countries. However, Pew Research reminds us that only 16% of the World’s Population could be considered Upper Middle or High Income. That means that as a percentage of population, suicide attempts may increase with the presence of affluence around the vulnerable person.)
- - Worldwide, suicide accounts for 1.4% of deaths in 2012, making it the 15th leading cause of death.
- - While both of the suicides that touched my family this past summer were female, suicide historically has been a predominantly male response – three times as many men as women commit suicide each year.
- - While there are useful Suicide Prevention measures available, who it is that will attempt to commit suicide is often a surprise. Suicide is truly a disease that has the potential to touch every life.
(See http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en/ and http://www.pewglobal.org/interactives/global-population-by-income/ )
Maybe this story is a case in point. Elijah is remembered as a great prophet of the Hebrew Bible – in fact, he is the greatest of the prophets. In the story of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17), it is Moses and Elijah who meet with Jesus on the mountain. Elijah’s encounter with Ahab is legendary. He was a man of faith. He risked his life for the cause of God and seemed to do so with a real confidence that God would see him through. The Battle on Mount Carmel was immortalized in the memory of the Hebrew people. Everything that Elijah set his hand to seems to have been successful, until this moment.
At this moment, Jezebel had threatened the life of the prophet. It really shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. Jezebel stood against anything that disrupted her worship of Ba’al and Asherah – and of that worship, Elijah was the great disruptor. Maybe Elijah believed that even Jezebel would see the wisdom of serving the God of Israel after the battle that had just concluded on the mountain and the end of the terrible drought that had followed the battle.
But at this moment, Jezebel’s arrows hit something that was buried deep inside of Elijah. I am not sure that anyone would have thought that it was possible, but the greatest prophet of the Hebrew Bible suddenly became suicidal. He had had enough. Life was too much for him. Elijah wanted to die.
I know some people that are right now figuratively curled up under the broom tree with Elijah. They could easily echo the words of Elijah. They have had enough, and they somehow have come to the conclusion that there is nothing more left for them. If there is anything that we can take from this story, it might be simply this - even at this desperate point in Elijah’s life; God was not ready to give up on Elijah. There was more ahead that Elijah just couldn’t see. Too often we seem to believe that we don’t serve a God who cares what happens “under the broom tree.” He cares. And when we are curled up there, he is curled up with us – urging us to take one more step into the more that he has planned for us.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 20
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