Warning: mentions of suicide which some readers may find upsetting.
‘Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.’ (Isaiah 40:30-31)
Particularly in this time of global distress over Coronavirus, it’s easy to feel mounting fear and anxiety. Hope can seem a far off thing. It’s human. And it can be overwhelming.
People are not merely physical beings. Our response to pain, suffering and lack in the world isn’t enough if we address only material things. We fight poverty because people’s lives matter.
We fight suicide because it takes a life every 40 seconds.
Death by hopelessness. An inability to see how things might ever get better. A feeling that we’ve lost control of the circumstances, and there is no way back. The underlying reasons may have different names, but on average it’s the cause of 1.4 per cent of deaths in the world each year. And the statistics rise in many of the areas where Tearfund works as conflict, disaster and poverty push people to their limits.
As Christians, we know that there is hope. It doesn’t mean we don’t grow weary. Or face the same turmoil and mental battles as the rest of the world. It means that when there seems no way forward, only out, we have a hope to cling to that is not dependent on personal circumstances or the news.