Hopeless?

Isaiah 53:5

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

I watched a disturbing story on the news this morning. It was a story about a young teen who was bullied, depressed, hurt, and sad. She was 15 years old when she hung herself this past January because her life was so hopeless. What a tragic loss. It is alleged that students in her high school bullied her to the point of suicide. Her classmate’s constant torment, ridicule, name calling, physical abuse, and social isolation ruined this young girl's heart. It destroyed her will to live.

There were indicators that something was broken in this girl’s heart long before her suicide. She had a history of taking antidepressant medications and cutting herself. Cutting is a way that people, especially teens (both male and female) attempt to cope with outside stress in their lives. It is a physical representation of their attempts to deal with depression, pain, anxiety, rage, and rejection. A steady dose of over the counter medicine and self mutilation was this young girl's only way to cope with her afflictions.

This story hit me like a ton of bricks. How alone was this poor girl? She had no one to lean on. She had no one who could take the pain away, no one to shoulder her stressful burden. She saw the only solution to be hanging herself. After trying to heal the pain and suffering on her own with cuts on her body, she decided that the only way to defeat her bullies was to hang and die!

People, Jesus knew that was the only answer we could come up with, too! We are a broken, tormented, and bullied society. The Devil is our bully. He wants to bring us down. He wants to hurt us. He wants us dead! Jesus knew that and rescued us from this bully. Jesus was scourged by the Roman soldiers. His body was lacerated; His blood was shed. When that wasn’t enough to take it all away, Jesus chose to hang himself. He didn’t use a rope, He hung on a cross. He was cut to heal our hurts. He died to defeat our bully.

There is a blessed hope for the world. His name is Jesus. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28