What do you do when you don't know where else to turn?
Stress. Does anyone ACTUALLY want stress? Of course not. But, stress happens. It's a fact of life and of the world we live in. Family, relationships, friends, jobs, other responsibilities and circumstances...the world we live in can get pretty overwhelming. We're sitting here sometimes even in pain of stress, and we don't know how to handle it. So I have three questions to ask that need a true biblical answer. Why do we get stressed? Who do we rely on? How do we beat it? Having an answer to these would certainly help with living in this crazy world. So let's dive in.
First question: Why do we get stressed? As usual, I provide my own life for example. I've been a Christian for about 13 years now (holy crap...that's crazy). My Christian life has been a pretty big roller coaster of spiritual ups and downs. 6th grade through 11th grade I was never living for the Lord with my passionate heart. A retreat changed me in 12th grade and I got on fire for God. Went through freshman and sophomore years in college on a small decline. Got through fall of junior year just fine. Then, spring semester of junior year happened...possibly the most awful time in my life. I don't even know how I got the way I did. Requirements for my 5 classes stressed me beyond belief. I'd say no to activities, I'd pull all-nighters and crazy long work days, and I just wasn't healthy. My parents were worried that my mindset was suicidal. My girlfriend at the time even said it had been a month since she had seen me smile. I even remember one night where Bill was scared to come in the bedroom because of my demeanor and the music I was listening to (Korn, Disturbed, Linkin Park, etc). So WHY was I so stressed? I ran out of time to do things. My life became work and the commitments around me. I shoved God to the side...I didn't have time for Him. So I shouldered the load and look where it got me, into the darkest pit of my life. And for what? So I could meet a college deadline? And how much of that really matters in the light of eternity? The stress and the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel" just isn't worth it. "Oh, I'll have more time to enjoy life once THIS is out of my hair". News flash, boys and girls...there's always going to be something in life trying to steal our time.
So the answer to why we get stressed is simply because we let Satan let us get stressed. But, but...family crap! And job stuff! Stop it. "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." - 1 Peter 5:8. Could we maybe say that stresses could also be referred to as temptations? You see, there's something interesting about Jesus' life. Through all the memoirs that are the Gospels, they provide pretty good detail about the stresses/temptations of his life. Starting in Matthew 4 when he wandered through the wilderness and fasted for 40 days, and let me stop there for a second. Fasting for 40 days?! Not eating for a month and a half?! The Bible doesn't articulate EXACTLY what he did, but 40 days of that would literally be some kind of hell on earth. Yet Jesus was peaceful. He was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted/tested by Satan. And he responded to Satan and drove him away. Moving forward to Gethsemane, where Luke 22:44 says "And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground". Jesus knew he was about to be crucified, and a man not turning to God would completely shatter under this stress. Not the Lord. Jesus was not going to let Satan be a part of this scene. We always refer to Matthew 4 as Jesus' temptation. What we fail to realize is how much Jesus was tempted beyond that. This scene was a temptation. Jesus could have panicked and fled for the hills. But he knelt down, turned his eyes to the heavens, and the man sweat blood in his prayer. Did God reward him? Not necessarily. See, Jesus' circumstances didn't change, but his focus was on the Father. Jesus was stressed, but his soul was at peace.
Next question: Who do we rely on? I would answer it with one word, but that's no fun. So again from my own life. Junior year of college, I relied on myself. Even in team projects, which ended up being a total mess that year, I took a large part of the projects on myself and I ended up a mess. I was so stressed and couldn't handle it that I even threw up from the stress. It was absolutely awful. And again...for what? That semester weighs nothing on eternity. And now I have that memory instead of an enjoyable one. We can rely on others, but we all fail each other from day to day. No one has it all together, no matter how much it looks. I know people that I almost idolized at one point or another. They seemed to be living a great and happy life, they were great role models, people respected them, and everything looked great. Then I learned about things they struggled with. They sometimes even beat out my own stressful experiences. As the famous song says "we all need somebody to lean on". And we SHOULD lean on others; God made us relational beings. But we can never put the entirety of our faith in another person, or we'll end up in the pit I was in.
So the one-word answer to who we rely on is, of course, God. "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:7. "The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." - Isaiah 58:11. "For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:32-34. It's everywhere in the Bible. "Do not fear." "Do not worry." It's been said that there are 365 "fear nots" in the Bible. I've never looked for myself, but I know there are plenty to hold you over. And I know it's dangerous to take verses out of their original context. But put these verses back in their original context, and you'll see exactly what kinds of stresses these people were in. They likely outweigh your stresses. Rely on God first, He's made promises that He will keep.
The last question feels to me that it's been answered: how do we beat it? How did Jesus beat Satan in Matthew 4? How did Jesus beat Satan in Luke 22? He quoted Scripture. He prayed. He was completely in tune with Headquarters, completely immersed in the will of His Father. And that's how we beat this. We read. We pray. We seek God and grow close to Him as He grows close to us. As Jeremy Camp sings, "Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you. He's near to the broken and confused. By His stripes, our spirit is renewed. So enter in the joy prepared for you." - Healing Hand of God. And Jesus says "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30. "Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber...very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep...the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." - John 10:1,6,10.
One last thing. Jesus came to give us life more abundantly, and to the full. But we're in this life full of stresses and ridiculousness. Yet God made the promise "God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13. So I made the argument that these stresses and temptations come from Satan, and not God ("When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone" - James 1:13). But tell me this. How is a diamond, either natural or synthetic, formed? The answer is that we take pure carbon (found in common graphite a.k.a. pencil lead), subject it to INTENSE heat and pressurization, bring it to a very quick cooling stage, and voila, a diamond. So...feeling the heat of life? Feeling pressured? Look to the heavens for a moment...God might be trying to do something with you. God always has a purpose for every moment of your life. Diamonds are flawless, and that's what God is trying to make us. We just have to seek Him first. And don't take any of this from me, I'm just another flawed and stressed human being. Take it from the perfect Word that God gave to us. He won't fail you, you just have to come to the surface and let Him cool you off.
What do you do when you don't know where else to turn? Let God make you into a diamond. Trust Him.
Stress. Does anyone ACTUALLY want stress? Of course not. But, stress happens. It's a fact of life and of the world we live in. Family, relationships, friends, jobs, other responsibilities and circumstances...the world we live in can get pretty overwhelming. We're sitting here sometimes even in pain of stress, and we don't know how to handle it. So I have three questions to ask that need a true biblical answer. Why do we get stressed? Who do we rely on? How do we beat it? Having an answer to these would certainly help with living in this crazy world. So let's dive in.
First question: Why do we get stressed? As usual, I provide my own life for example. I've been a Christian for about 13 years now (holy crap...that's crazy). My Christian life has been a pretty big roller coaster of spiritual ups and downs. 6th grade through 11th grade I was never living for the Lord with my passionate heart. A retreat changed me in 12th grade and I got on fire for God. Went through freshman and sophomore years in college on a small decline. Got through fall of junior year just fine. Then, spring semester of junior year happened...possibly the most awful time in my life. I don't even know how I got the way I did. Requirements for my 5 classes stressed me beyond belief. I'd say no to activities, I'd pull all-nighters and crazy long work days, and I just wasn't healthy. My parents were worried that my mindset was suicidal. My girlfriend at the time even said it had been a month since she had seen me smile. I even remember one night where Bill was scared to come in the bedroom because of my demeanor and the music I was listening to (Korn, Disturbed, Linkin Park, etc). So WHY was I so stressed? I ran out of time to do things. My life became work and the commitments around me. I shoved God to the side...I didn't have time for Him. So I shouldered the load and look where it got me, into the darkest pit of my life. And for what? So I could meet a college deadline? And how much of that really matters in the light of eternity? The stress and the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel" just isn't worth it. "Oh, I'll have more time to enjoy life once THIS is out of my hair". News flash, boys and girls...there's always going to be something in life trying to steal our time.
So the answer to why we get stressed is simply because we let Satan let us get stressed. But, but...family crap! And job stuff! Stop it. "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." - 1 Peter 5:8. Could we maybe say that stresses could also be referred to as temptations? You see, there's something interesting about Jesus' life. Through all the memoirs that are the Gospels, they provide pretty good detail about the stresses/temptations of his life. Starting in Matthew 4 when he wandered through the wilderness and fasted for 40 days, and let me stop there for a second. Fasting for 40 days?! Not eating for a month and a half?! The Bible doesn't articulate EXACTLY what he did, but 40 days of that would literally be some kind of hell on earth. Yet Jesus was peaceful. He was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted/tested by Satan. And he responded to Satan and drove him away. Moving forward to Gethsemane, where Luke 22:44 says "And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground". Jesus knew he was about to be crucified, and a man not turning to God would completely shatter under this stress. Not the Lord. Jesus was not going to let Satan be a part of this scene. We always refer to Matthew 4 as Jesus' temptation. What we fail to realize is how much Jesus was tempted beyond that. This scene was a temptation. Jesus could have panicked and fled for the hills. But he knelt down, turned his eyes to the heavens, and the man sweat blood in his prayer. Did God reward him? Not necessarily. See, Jesus' circumstances didn't change, but his focus was on the Father. Jesus was stressed, but his soul was at peace.
Next question: Who do we rely on? I would answer it with one word, but that's no fun. So again from my own life. Junior year of college, I relied on myself. Even in team projects, which ended up being a total mess that year, I took a large part of the projects on myself and I ended up a mess. I was so stressed and couldn't handle it that I even threw up from the stress. It was absolutely awful. And again...for what? That semester weighs nothing on eternity. And now I have that memory instead of an enjoyable one. We can rely on others, but we all fail each other from day to day. No one has it all together, no matter how much it looks. I know people that I almost idolized at one point or another. They seemed to be living a great and happy life, they were great role models, people respected them, and everything looked great. Then I learned about things they struggled with. They sometimes even beat out my own stressful experiences. As the famous song says "we all need somebody to lean on". And we SHOULD lean on others; God made us relational beings. But we can never put the entirety of our faith in another person, or we'll end up in the pit I was in.
So the one-word answer to who we rely on is, of course, God. "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:7. "The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." - Isaiah 58:11. "For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:32-34. It's everywhere in the Bible. "Do not fear." "Do not worry." It's been said that there are 365 "fear nots" in the Bible. I've never looked for myself, but I know there are plenty to hold you over. And I know it's dangerous to take verses out of their original context. But put these verses back in their original context, and you'll see exactly what kinds of stresses these people were in. They likely outweigh your stresses. Rely on God first, He's made promises that He will keep.
The last question feels to me that it's been answered: how do we beat it? How did Jesus beat Satan in Matthew 4? How did Jesus beat Satan in Luke 22? He quoted Scripture. He prayed. He was completely in tune with Headquarters, completely immersed in the will of His Father. And that's how we beat this. We read. We pray. We seek God and grow close to Him as He grows close to us. As Jeremy Camp sings, "Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you. He's near to the broken and confused. By His stripes, our spirit is renewed. So enter in the joy prepared for you." - Healing Hand of God. And Jesus says "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30. "Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber...very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep...the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." - John 10:1,6,10.
One last thing. Jesus came to give us life more abundantly, and to the full. But we're in this life full of stresses and ridiculousness. Yet God made the promise "God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13. So I made the argument that these stresses and temptations come from Satan, and not God ("When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone" - James 1:13). But tell me this. How is a diamond, either natural or synthetic, formed? The answer is that we take pure carbon (found in common graphite a.k.a. pencil lead), subject it to INTENSE heat and pressurization, bring it to a very quick cooling stage, and voila, a diamond. So...feeling the heat of life? Feeling pressured? Look to the heavens for a moment...God might be trying to do something with you. God always has a purpose for every moment of your life. Diamonds are flawless, and that's what God is trying to make us. We just have to seek Him first. And don't take any of this from me, I'm just another flawed and stressed human being. Take it from the perfect Word that God gave to us. He won't fail you, you just have to come to the surface and let Him cool you off.
What do you do when you don't know where else to turn? Let God make you into a diamond. Trust Him.
Very well said son! Your perspectives are inspirational. Thank You! Mom
ReplyDeleteWell put Cran.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the diamond analogy, you know me being an engineer and what not. I find that when I am stressed/tempted, those are times when I'm most likely to sin if I'm not on my guard. However God is preparing us, and we are to turn to him: "Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil" Ephesians 6:10-11. Take up the whole armor of God and trust Him.