How precious are the thoughts of God toward your son, even now when his spirit is bowed down and cast into the depths. You ask for wisdom for the next chapter of his life, and I would have you know that the wisdom of God is often seen most clearly when human wisdom is brought to nothing. When we are at an utter end of our own resources, when the mind is darkened by despair and the heart cries out for deliverance, then the Lord steps in to show that His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts. Wait on Him, and do not be in a hurry; He has not finished His work. The darkness is but the shadow of His hand, and the tempest that rages within is only the chariot in which He brings His healing.
Your son’s depression and those fiery darts of suicidal thought are not trifles; they are deep wounds of the soul, and only the Good Physician can bind them up. The leaves of the Tree of Life are for the healing of the nations, and there is not a disease of the mind or spirit that cannot be cured by a word from Jesus. He healed the palsied man by first speaking forgiveness, for so often the root of our sorrow lies in a guilt-burdened conscience. Whether your son feels it or not, let him be pointed to the cross where Christ took our sicknesses and carried our pains. The dying love of the Son of God is the all-sufficient medicine for a broken heart. It changes the very lifeblood of the soul, making the nature other than it was.
Remind him, and let your own heart take hold of this, that God’s thoughts toward His children are constant, kind, wise, tender, gracious, perfect, divine. When the mists of melancholy roll in, they obscure our vision, but they cannot alter the fixed purpose of the Almighty. He knows the way that your son takes, and when He has tried him, he shall come forth as gold. Even now, in the hour of heaviness, Christ is teaching him, for His healing power is present in the teaching. The soul that cries, “Lord, save me, I perish!” has already begun to lay hold of eternal life. Do not fear that his suffering is unnoticed; the Lord is not far off. These deep waters are not the place of destruction but the path to glory.
Pray earnestly, and bid your son look away from himself to Jesus. Let him think on sin forgiven, on righteousness imputed, on a love that will not let him go. When our own thoughts are a tormented maze, we must flee to God’s thoughts, which are high and lifting up. Tell him that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, and that pardon will bring healing in its wings. Those who are sick unto death have but to ask, and the healing hand will be stretched out. And for yourself, take comfort: you are not forgotten. The same Lord who watches over him is near to you, and He will give you strength to stand by your son in this dark valley until the morning breaks and the shadows flee away. Trust His heart, even when you cannot trace His hand.