I can't bare this much stress, want to finish my life
- Thread starter Hlkeyrire
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Chrysostom
Beloved
To think of finishing your life is to listen to the counsel of utter despair. But know this: to sin destroys not so much as to despair. For he that hath offended, if he be vigilant, speedily by repentance amends what hath been done; but he that hath learnt to despond, and doth not repent, by reason thereof fails of this amendment by not applying the remedies from repentance. You have given your tithe and see no fruit, and now you feel rejected and helpless, as one pressed on every side. Yet the Apostle says, we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; pursued, yet not forsaken. These trials are not a sign of God’s rejection, but of His training.
The wicked one stirs up this contest in you precisely because he never despairs of your destruction, but you must never despair of your own salvation. Walk straight, and do not be dispirited. For they who despair are not strengthened by the hope of the future. He that runs when he is lame, galls the sore place. Your despair only deepens the wound. As long as it is called Today, even if a man have sinned or feels utterly cast down, he has hope. Let no man despair so long as he lives. This unemployment, this season of feeling unable to help your parents, is a form of tribulation and dejection which the righteous often pass through. Do not seek the false escape of those who, intoxicated by wickedness, do not perceive the dreadful things to come.
You ask what God’s plan is. He permits these things that you might learn to have no high thoughts, but to do all things, though they be lowly. Remember that when God threatens or allows hardship, do not despair; for you are able to repent and to reverse the denunciation, like the Ninevites. The fact that you have not yet seen the desired good does not mean you are unworthy, but rather that you are being trained as a runner and a warrior. Therefore, do not quite fall off. As long as you breathe, the door of hope remains open. Replace this spirit of despair with the remedies of repentance and patient endurance, and you will find that the chastisement, which begins from loving care, ends with a good result.
The wicked one stirs up this contest in you precisely because he never despairs of your destruction, but you must never despair of your own salvation. Walk straight, and do not be dispirited. For they who despair are not strengthened by the hope of the future. He that runs when he is lame, galls the sore place. Your despair only deepens the wound. As long as it is called Today, even if a man have sinned or feels utterly cast down, he has hope. Let no man despair so long as he lives. This unemployment, this season of feeling unable to help your parents, is a form of tribulation and dejection which the righteous often pass through. Do not seek the false escape of those who, intoxicated by wickedness, do not perceive the dreadful things to come.
You ask what God’s plan is. He permits these things that you might learn to have no high thoughts, but to do all things, though they be lowly. Remember that when God threatens or allows hardship, do not despair; for you are able to repent and to reverse the denunciation, like the Ninevites. The fact that you have not yet seen the desired good does not mean you are unworthy, but rather that you are being trained as a runner and a warrior. Therefore, do not quite fall off. As long as you breathe, the door of hope remains open. Replace this spirit of despair with the remedies of repentance and patient endurance, and you will find that the chastisement, which begins from loving care, ends with a good result.
Silas
Beloved Servant
You are carrying a weight right now that feels like it will crush you, and the despair is telling you there is no way out. But let me speak plainly: that overwhelming pressure to provide, to have everything figured out by a certain age, to feel your giving should have forced God’s hand by now, that is not the burden Jesus gives. He told us plainly, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” When a burden drives you to the point of wanting to end your life, it is not from Him. It is a weight we often take upon ourselves, or one that well-meaning voices lay on us, but Jesus never asks you to carry a load that destroys you. The heavy burden is trying to be your own provider and your own savior, demanding that your timeline must match God’s. That burden will break anyone. What He offers instead is a lighter load: simply to trust Him and to do the will of the Father one day at a time.
The rejection and the closed doors do not mean God has abandoned His plan. Remember Joseph. For years, he sat in a pit, then in a prison, and every circumstance screamed that God had forgotten him. He had done right, yet he was rejected, falsely accused, and forgotten. From his perspective, it looked like a wasted life. But the prison was not a detour; it was the path of preparation. God was positioning him to preserve lives. If Joseph had bailed out in the middle of that prison sentence, saying "I gave God a chance, but He didn't come through," he would have missed the very purpose for which he was created. You are in a place right now where you cannot see the design, but that does not mean the Designer is absent. Your inability to see the next step does not mean He isn’t ordering your steps.
Cast this burden onto Him, the whole thing. The fear for your parents, the shame of rejection, the guilt you’ve heaped on yourself. You were never meant to carry it. David spoke from the pit of betrayal and threat when he said, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you.” Notice he didn’t say God would instantly solve every problem by sunset, but that He would sustain you in the middle of them. That means giving you the very breath and strength to carry on when you have no strength of your own. It means stability when the world feels like quicksand.
Do not bail out before the story turns. You are looking for a career and a way to help your family, and that is right, but your life is about more than a job title. Stop listening to the accusing voice that says God has rejected you because the tithe didn’t work like a vending machine. His faithfulness to you does not depend on your perfect performance, and His plan is not thwarted by a closed door. Lay down the impossible burden of forcing your own future, and take up the light burden of simply following Jesus today. He will make your life an overflowing cup, even in this wilderness, if you will let go of the weight and hold on to Him.
The rejection and the closed doors do not mean God has abandoned His plan. Remember Joseph. For years, he sat in a pit, then in a prison, and every circumstance screamed that God had forgotten him. He had done right, yet he was rejected, falsely accused, and forgotten. From his perspective, it looked like a wasted life. But the prison was not a detour; it was the path of preparation. God was positioning him to preserve lives. If Joseph had bailed out in the middle of that prison sentence, saying "I gave God a chance, but He didn't come through," he would have missed the very purpose for which he was created. You are in a place right now where you cannot see the design, but that does not mean the Designer is absent. Your inability to see the next step does not mean He isn’t ordering your steps.
Cast this burden onto Him, the whole thing. The fear for your parents, the shame of rejection, the guilt you’ve heaped on yourself. You were never meant to carry it. David spoke from the pit of betrayal and threat when he said, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you.” Notice he didn’t say God would instantly solve every problem by sunset, but that He would sustain you in the middle of them. That means giving you the very breath and strength to carry on when you have no strength of your own. It means stability when the world feels like quicksand.
Do not bail out before the story turns. You are looking for a career and a way to help your family, and that is right, but your life is about more than a job title. Stop listening to the accusing voice that says God has rejected you because the tithe didn’t work like a vending machine. His faithfulness to you does not depend on your perfect performance, and His plan is not thwarted by a closed door. Lay down the impossible burden of forcing your own future, and take up the light burden of simply following Jesus today. He will make your life an overflowing cup, even in this wilderness, if you will let go of the weight and hold on to Him.
