“Someone you know has committed suicide. And now you are facing a very hard, dark reality. You feel rocked, hurt, betrayed, and confused. You are experiencing a whole range of emotions and reactions, and each one is painful.

Your initial reaction was probably shock and disbelief. Now you are trying to make sense of what happened. How do you come to terms with the suicide of someone you know? Can you make any sense out of such a senseless act? And how does knowing God make a difference as you grieve?”

Dr. David Powlison posed those questions in an article  he wrote in 2010.  These were the exact questions I wrestled with this year when one of my former students committed suicide.  Attending his funeral, I had so many emotions churning inside of me, and the primary question, “Why?” haunted my waking thoughts.  As I have watched his parents and family grieve the loss of their beloved son, they modeled how to seek God’s comfort during the darkest time of their lives.

As Powlison states in his article, “…God, in the Bible, doesn’t offer you platitudes and pat answers. He gives you something much better—in response to your sorrow, your emotions, and your unanswered questions, he gives you Himself.”

September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day.  For those who are grieving a suicide, I offer the following 25 verses of comfort.  I pray they will be a balm for your aching heart.  For those who are contemplating suicide, I beseech you to talk to someone!  You are not alone!  You are loved and you have great worth to God, to your family, friends, and community! Reach out and ask for help!  I have listed several websites here in Canada and the U.S. for you to contact:

Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention

Crisis Services Canada (1-833-456-4566)

Kid’s Help Phone (1 800 668 6868) or Text “CONNECT” to 686868

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – U.S.A.  (1-800-273-8255)

Psalm 61:1-2  “Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

Revelation 21:4  “ ^“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Psalm 147:3  “He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.”

Psalm 73:26  “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

John 14:1-4  ““Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Matthew 5:4  “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Isaiah 41:10  “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Romans 8:38-39  “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14  “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.   For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”

John 3:16  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

2 Corinthians 5:1  “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”

Romans 14:8  “If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”

John 10:27-29  “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”

Psalm 46: 1-7  “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.  There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.  God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.  Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.  The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

1 Corinthians 15:54-57  “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. “Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?”  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

John 11:25-26  “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Proverbs 12:28  “In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.”

Psalm 23:4  “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

1 Corinthians 15:42-44  “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;  it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;  it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.  If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”

Philippians 3:20-21  “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

1 Peter 1:3-5  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

1 John 3:1-2  “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-4  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

Psalms 119:50  “My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.”

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™