Hopeless

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:2b-5 (NIV) 

I saw an interesting statistic in the Bangkok Post this past week.  In a story about casualties from the flooding in northern Thailand, there was a count of suicides attributable to the flooding and people on suicide watch because of the flooding.
What would cause so many people to want to cause suicide at a time like that.  Was it because they had lost their rice crop and now owed money they could not pay?  Was it because they lost their home and had no money to rebuild or place to build for that matter?  Was it because they lost some loved ones?
Many people suffer these kinds of things and do not want to commit suicide.  So what is the difference?
Certainly if our hope is bound up in possessions and we lose them we can become desperately hopeless—perhaps hopeless to the point of suicide.  And in a culture where public shame is very bad thing, perhaps the shame of not being able to care for your family could cause suicidal despondency.  It doesn’t help either that there is not a lot of mental health assistance available in Thailand nor do many see the value in it.
But I find the verses from Paul quite interesting.  When times of suffering come, we can become hopeless.  But Paul says that suffering can actually produce hope!  This seems rather radical to me.  Yet it is only possible because of the last thing Paul mentions in this passage—the Holy Spirit within us.
With the Holy Spirit we should be able to get to the place where we could lose everything but not lose hope because we still have Jesus.  I’m not sure I’m at that place.
And so I am reminded of a song sung by Fernando Ortega:

 In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

When I am alone
When I am alone
When I am alone, give me Jesus

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

When I come to die
When I come to die
When I come to die, give me Jesus

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus