Articles
Coping with the World
Robin Williams is being hailed as a comic genius, a witty (if also vulgar and blasphemous) humorist whose warp-speed thoughts careened from anecdote to absurdity, from irreverence to impersonation. He is also being lauded as a sensitive soul, tormented by the evil, violence and injustice of the world. Robin Williams was also chronically depressed, a drug addict and alcoholic who had three marriages and financial problems due to alimony/child support payments and failed entertainment ventures.
I am certainly not qualified to comment on Mr. Williams’ specific case. When anyone ends their own life, celebrity or not, it is a tragedy beyond words. But I do want to use his suicide last Monday as a springboard for some general observations that concern us all.
1) This world is a hostile place. ISIS beheads children; Boko Haram kidnaps and abuses young girls; Russians shoot airliners out of the sky. Here in America demented people murder family members and strangers alike to bring some perverted peace to their anguished minds. This is the work of Satan and his minions. As God is being systematically expunged from the public square, more and more are adrift in hopeless despair as they try to make sense of a world full of senseless acts.
After examining the inequities, injustice and randomness of this world “under the sun,” Solomon’s ultimate advice for each one: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecc 12:13). And his message to help us with the actions of others: “For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil” (12:14). If we do not have a strong belief in a just God who allows for free will and yet promises to punish evildoers, we will drive ourselves crazy as wickedness flourishes.
2) Our own sins complicate the world. Our ability to cope with the existence of evil is compromised by our personal transgressions. Guilt, personal inadequacy, narcissism and other fallout from sin undermines our overall emotional balance. We can become despondent with the condition of “the world” while blinded to the realization that we are the world. If we cannot unload our own guilt, then we do not have a stable foundation to put this wretched world into some kind of perspective that allows us to live with joy. We must make a clean break and devote ourselves to holiness (1 Pet 4:1-3; Eph 5:8-12; 2 Cor 7:1). Only from this vantage point can we make some sense of and offset this chaotic, brutal, uncertain world.
3) There is always hope. As Solomon noted, things in this world are cyclical (Ecc 1:1-11). Today may be dark, and tomorrow may not be much better. But trends – even of evil – ebb and flow, and God governs the extremity of inhumanity. Evil abounds, but we must retain confidence that our own efforts, with God’s help, will accomplish some good. Just exactly how do I help the world be a better place when, thinking I have something to offer, I take my own life?
