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Transcript 243C — Can A Saved Person Go Insane?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Yes. I was wondering, can a saved person go insane?
HC: Can a saved person become insane? Well, if insanity comes because here is a chemical defect, or a structural defect in our body, so that there is something structurally wrong with our body, a Christian could go insane. But ordinarily, if we are saved, as we face life we know that we have a Savior to go to. We can come to Christ with all of our troubles and cares. We don't have to become anxious.
You see, much insanity that exists in the world is a way of escaping the pressures of life, or a way of escaping the deep-rooted fears that get into person's life, because a person can't face life. He can do a number of things. He can begin to take alcohol. That's one way of being able to face a world that one cannot cope with otherwise. One can begin to take tranquilizers. And a third way is to become insane. Insanity very frequently is just a way of avoiding the responsibility of trying to cope with life.
Or insanity very frequently is a result of fear that gnaws at a person's heart, and grows and grows. And this fear becomes so great that it eventually ends in insanity. And again, there insanity is probably an escape. That's the only way that they can live with their fears, by simply abandoning responsibility toward life.
Now it could be possible for a Christian, if he took his eyes off Christ, if he looked at the troubled waters of life all around him, it could be possible. Certainly a Christian could have a nervous breakdown. He can have this kind of oppression upon him.
But if we are living a healthy Christian life, if we are focusing our eyes on Christ, if we are trusting in Him as the one who has taken our sins, and remembering that He is Sovereign God, and nothing happens to us except by His divine guidance, then the likelihood of insanity is very very remote.
I hope this will help you just a little bit.
CALLER: That's a big help. Thank you very much.
HC: Yes. Don't fear. You see, the Bible teaches that the perfect love of Christ casts our fear. Just think of Philippians 4:6 and 7. There God really puts it all. He says, "Don't be anxious." Now anxiety is the thing that grips a person. You can be anxious, "Will I ever go insane? I've got a parent who had trouble with this, or a grandparent, or whatever." And so this gnaws at your soul: "Could this happen to me?" That's anxiety, and in our anxiety, what do we do?
The first thing we do is we worry about what might happen to me tonight. And then, on top of that, we begin to wonder, "How can I live through the week?" And so we add to our burden of anxiety tonight also the anxiety of a whole week.
And then we, in our fear, in our anxiety, begin to wonder, "Oh, how can I keep going this way, month after month?" And, "What's going to happen next year and the following year?" And so we get more and more weighed down. We just build a bigger and bigger load on our back as we worry about tonight, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. And it's such a heavy load, that finally it just breaks us.
Now the Bible says, first of all, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Don't worry about tomorrow. We read in Lamentations a very very beautiful statement. It's a statement that we all ought to know is there, because of its context. The context of Lamentations is that of a time when Judah is suffering grievously because of their sins, and the hand of God is against them. And the statement of the writer is in verse 19 of Lamentations 3: "Remember my affliction and my bitterness, the wormwood and the gall. My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me."
But then, in that sad context, He comes through with this beautiful statement: "But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore I will hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."
Now you see, here God teaches that every morning His mercies are renewed. So in our anxiety, when we start worrying about tomorrow, and the next day, and next week, the first thing we have to do is cry out to God, "Oh Father, forgive me for looking ahead, for being disobedient to Your command that we're not to be anxious about tomorrow, because You have promised that every day Your mercies are renewed."
Now secondly, in Philippians 4:6 we read, "Don't be anxious about anything. But with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to the Lord." In other words, we can go to the Lord with everything that would tend to make us anxious. And we can go to Him again and again and again and again and again. "Pray without ceasing," the Bible says. And we can tell Him all about it. We can pour it out to Him. We can beseech Him. We can beg of Him, "Oh Father, strengthen me in this."
Now we are told to come "with thanksgiving." Now this is a very healthful reminder, because think of it. He has cared for me up until this time. He cared for me during the last ten minutes. And if He's done that, perhaps He'll care for me another ten minutes. And He has made this open door available to me, so that I can go to the Lord in my anxiety. That's certainly something to be grateful to God for.
You see, as we begin to thank God, our focus is shifted from our own problems to Christ, to God, because He is the one who is the giver of all good things that we can thank Him for.
Now, "Don't be anxious about anything, but with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to the Lord." And then what will happen? And here is the promise that virtually guarantees that we're not going to go insane, at least as a result of anxiety or fear. Because what is the next promise?: "And the peace of God, that passeth understanding, will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus." And once you're at that stage, you're secure, aren't you? You're absolutely secure, once the peace of God overflows your life. As you turn it all over to Christ, as you tell Him all about it, and just relax in Him. He is Almighty God. He is the Almighty Sovereign One.
What am I worried about? What am I troubled about? God is in control. He'll never leave me nor forsake me. And then the pressures that move a person toward a nervous breakdown, the pressures that move a person toward insanity of some kind, are completely negated. They're completely relieved.
This is the way the Bible guides us, you see.
CALLER: Thank you very much.
HC: You're welcome. Good night.