“…where then is my hope– who can see any hope for me?” (Job 17:15, NIV). This is how George Bailey feels as he stands on the bridge and contemplates suicide. He sees his existence as a failure and sees no way out of his financial predicament. When you’re in a “hopeless” situation, you get tunnel vision and can’t see anything around you. You’re in the dark. Even if others around you see hope, you’re blinded to it. The key during times like these is to run toward the light, not away from it.
Isaiah 53:6 says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (NIV). Sometimes people who are in a dark place make it darker (pulling away from God, staying at home with the curtains closed and pulling the covers up over their heads). While George isn’t depicted doing these exact things in the movie, he is seen yelling at his daughter’s teacher Mrs. Welsh over the phone, yelling at his family, and knocking things over in a fit of rage. He finally asks God to show him “the way,” but while he’s drinking at a bar. After getting punched out by Mr. Welsh because of how he treated his wife on the phone, he gets in his car. His reckless driving results in crashing his car into a tree. It’s at this point in the movie that he runs to the bridge and wants to end things.
Just as George is thinking of jumping, his angel Clarence “falls” into the water and screams for help. This is his way of saving George from jumping. Just like Job in the Bible, George curses his very birth, wishing he’d never been born. Paul also speaks of despair in 2 Corinthians 1:8. “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself” (NIV). It’s a good thing that Clarence has been sent not only to protect George, but to change his way of thinking. He allows George to glimpse the world without him…
Without George, his hometown is under a different name and leadership. None of the homes he helped mortgage to families in need exist. His brother Harry drowned as a child—as a result, he never helped save 1,000 soldiers during the war. His mother is a bitter widow, and his wife Mary is an “old maid.” As George runs frantically through his hometown searching for something familiar and comforting, he realizes the good that has resulted from his birth, from his existence! When finally back in reality, he embraces his life and accepts that there will be hardships along with the joys.
How do you find hope in a seemingly hopeless situation? You focus on God’s presence, promise, purpose, and place! It’s important to put things in perspective and remember that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem that God can resolve. Your life is worth living, and this world needs you! Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) says, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’” declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Remember this when you question the worth of your life. God loves you, values you, and there are so many people in your life who need you.