What
Does the Bible Say About
Overcoming
Stress?
In today's
world it is virtually impossible to avoid stress. Almost everyone is carrying
some amount of it, in varying degrees. Many find it increasingly difficult
to simply survive in the world we live in. In desperation, people are seeking
relief for their problems through any remedy they can find. Our culture
is inundated with self-help books, therapists, time-management workshops,
massage parlors, and recovery programs (to name just the tip of the iceberg).
Everyone talks about returning to a "simpler" way of life, but no one seems
to even know exactly what that means, or how to attain it. Many of us cry
out like Job, "The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront
me." (Job 30:27).
Most of us
are so used to carrying the burden of stress, we can scarcely imagine our
lives without it. We think it is simply an unavoidable part of living in
the world. We carry it like a hiker trudging out of the Grand Canyon with
a huge pack on his back. The pack seems to be a part of his own weight,
and he can't even remember what it was ever like to not be carrying it.
It seems that his legs have always been that heavy and his back has always
ached under all that weight. Only when he stops to rest for a moment and
takes off his pack does he realize just how heavy it really is, and how
light and free he is without it.
Unfortunately,
most of us cannot just unload stress like a backpack. It seems to be intrinsically
woven into the very fabric of our lives. It lurks somewhere beneath our
skin (usually in a knot between our shoulderblades). It keeps us up late
into the night, just when we need sleep the most. It presses in on us from
all sides. Yet, 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." (Mt. 11:28-30). Those words
have touched the hearts of many, yet they are only words that merely sound
comforting and are in essence, worthless, unless they are true. If they
are true, how can we apply them to our lives and walk free from the burdens
that weigh us down so badly? Perhaps you are responding, "I would love
do that if only I knew how!" How can we receive rest for our souls?
Come to Me...
The first thing
we must do to be free from our stress and our worry is to come unto Jesus.
Without Him, our life has no real purpose or depth. We simply run from
one activity to another, seeking to fill our lives with purpose, peace,
and happiness. "All man's efforts are for his mouth, yet his appetite is
never satisfied." (Ecc. 6:7). Things haven't changed much since the days
of King Solomon. We work ourselves to the bone for the things we desire,
only to crave more.
If we do not
know our real purpose in life; our reason for existing, life is very meaningless
indeed. Yet, God created each of us with a special purpose in mind. There
is something that needs to be done on this earth that can only be done
by you. Much of the stress that we carry springs from the fact that we
don't know who we are or where we are going. Even Christians who know that
ultimately they going to heaven when they die, are still anxious in this
lifetime because they do not really know who they are in Christ and who
Christ is in them. No matter who we are, we are bound to have tribulation
in this life. It is unavoidable, but having trouble in this life is not
the issue anyway. The real issue is how we react to it. That is where stress
is born. The trials we face in this world will either break us or make
us strong.
"I will show
you who he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them in
to practice. He is like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid
the foundation on rock. When a flood came the torrents struck that house
but could not shake it because it was well built." Luke 6:48. Jesus didn't
say that once we built our house on the rock that everything would be perfect.
No, He said that a flood came in torrents smashing against the house. The
key is that the house was built on the rock of Jesus, and the rock of putting
His words into practice. Is your house built on Jesus? Did you dig your
foundation deep into Him, or was the house hastily erected? Is your salvation
based on a prayer you prayed once or is it growing out of a committed relationship
to Him? Do you come to Him every day, every hour? Are you putting His words
into practice in your life, or do they lie there like dormant seed?
"Therefore,
I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve
what God's will is--His good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2
Until you have
fully committed yourself to God, until your foundation is dug deep into
Him, you will never be able to discern what His perfect will is for your
life. When the storms of life come, as they are bound to do, you will only
worry and fret and walk around with an ache in your back. Who we are under
pressure reveals who we really are. The storms of life wash away the thin
veneer that we present to the world and expose what lies in our heart.
God, in His mercy, allows the storms to hit us so we will turn to Him and
be cleansed of the sin that we were never able to perceive in times of
ease. We can either turn to Him and receive a soft heart in the midst of
all our trials, or we can turn away and harden our heart. The hard times
in life will either make us pliable and merciful, full of faith in God,
or angry and brittle, full of doubt and unbelief.
Fear or Faith?
"If God is
for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). Ultimately, there are only
two motivating factors in life: fear or faith. Until we truly know that
God is for us, loves us, cares about us personally and hasn't forgotten
us, we will base our life's decisions on fear. All fear and worry stems
from a lack of faith in God. You may not think you are walking in fear,
but if you aren't walking in faith, you are. Stress is a form of fear.
Worry is a form of fear. Worldly ambition is rooted in a fear of being
overlooked--of being a failure. Many relationships are based on the fear
of being alone. Vanity is based on a fear of being unattractive and unloved.
Greed is based on a fear of poverty. Even anger and rage are based on the
fear that there is no justice, no escape, no hope. Fear breeds selfishness,
which is the exact opposite of God's character. Selfishness breeds pride
and indifference to others. All of these are sin and must be dealt with
accordingly. Stress arises when we try to serve both ourselves (our fears),
and God at the same time (which is impossible to do). "Unless the Lord
builds the house, it's builders labor in vain...In vain you rise early
and stay up late, toiling for food to eat." (Psalm 127:1-2).
The Bible says
that when everything else is stripped away, only three things remain: faith,
hope, and love--and that love is the greatest of the three. Love is the
force that drives out our fear. "There is no fear in love but perfect love
drives out fear, for fear has a torment. The one who fears is not made
perfect in love." (1 John 4:18). The only way we can get rid of our anxieties
is to look them in the eye and deal with them at the root. If we desire
for God to make us perfect in love, we will have to repent of every bit
of fear and worry that we have clung to instead of Him. We may not like
to face some of those things that are in us, but we must if we are ever
to be free from them. If we are not merciless with our sin, it will be
merciless on us. It will drive us like the most wicked of slavemasters.
Worst of all, it will keep us from communion with God.
Jesus said
in Matthew 13:22, "The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns
is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness
of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful." It is extraordinary what tremendous
power there is in even the littlest things to distract us from God. We
must stand our ground, and refuse to let the thorns choke out the seed
of the Word. The devil knows that if he can distract us with all the cares
of this world, we will never be a threat to him or fulfill the call that
is on each our lives. We will never bear any fruit for the kingdom of God.
We will fall far below God's intended place for us. Yet, God wants to help
us to do our best in every situation that we face. That is all He asks--that
we trust in Him, put Him first, and do the best we can. After all, most
other circumstances that we worry about are beyond our control anyway.
What a waste of time worrying is! If we only worried about the things that
we have any direct control over, we would reduce our worrying by 90%!
Paraphrasing
the Lord's words in Luke 10:41-42, Jesus is saying to each one of us, "You
are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.
Choose what is better and it will not be taken from you." Isn't it wonderful
that the only thing that can not ever be taken from us, is the only thing
we really need anyway? Choose to sit at the Lord's feet and listen to His
words and learn from Him. By so doing, you are putting a deposit of true
riches into your heart, if you guard those words and put them into practice.
If you are not daily spending time with Him and reading His Word, you are
opening the door of your heart to the birds of the air who will steal the
seeds of life deposited there, and leave worry in their place. As for our
material needs, they will be taken care of when we seek Jesus first. "But
seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things
will be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the
morrow will take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the
day is the evil thereof." Matthew 6:33.
God has blessed
us with a most powerful tool; His Living Word, the Bible. If used properly,
it is a spiritual sword; separating our faith from our fear, drawing a
clean line between the holy and the vile, cutting away the excess and bringing
forth the repentance which leads to life. Stress merely indicates an area
of our life where our flesh is still on the throne. The life that is totally
submitted to God is marked by the trust born out of a thankful heart.
Peace I leave
with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto
you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27
(KJV).
Take My yoke
upon you...
How it must
grieve God to see His children walking around in such misery! The only
things we really need in this life, He already purchased for us at Calvary
through a terrible, agonizing, and lonely death. He was willing to give
everything for us, to make a way for our redemption. Are we as willing
to do our part? Are we willing to lay our lives down at His feet, and take
His yoke upon us? For if we do not walk in His yoke, we are bound to walk
in another. We can either serve the Lord who loves us, or the devil who
is bent on destroying us. There is no middle ground, nor is there a third
option. Praise God that He made a way out of the cycle of sin and death
for us! When we were completely helpless against the sin that raged in
us and compelled us to run from God, He had mercy on us and ran after us,
though we only cursed His Name. He is so tender and patient with us, not
willing for even one to perish. A bruised reed he will not break, and a
smoldering wick He will not snuff out. (Matthew 12:20). Are you bruised
and broken? Is your flame dimly flickering? Come to Jesus now!
"Come all you
who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy
and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend
your money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight
in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me that your soul
may live!" Isaiah 55:1-3.
Bless the Lord,
O my soul
When all is
said and done, there are still times when we all face incredibly difficult
circumstances that have an awesome power to destroy us. The best way to
counteract stress in those times, is to begin to praise God and thank Him
for His countless blessings in our lives. The old adage "count your blessings"
really is true. In spite of everything, there are so many blessings woven
throughout our lives that many of us do not even have the eyes to see them.
Even if your situation seems hopeless, God is still worthy of all your
praise. God delights in a heart that will praise Him no matter what the
bankbook says, our family says, our time schedule says, or any other circumstance
that would try to exalt itself against the knowledge of God. As we praise
and bless the name of the Most High, everything else in this world begins
to pale and fade away against the sheer loveliness of who He is.
Think of Paul
and Silas, feet bound in stocks in a dark prison with a jailer standing
guard over them. (Acts 16:22-40). They had just been severely flogged,
ridiculed and attacked by a huge crowd of people. Instead of fearing for
their lives, or becoming angry at God, they began to praise Him, singing
out loud, careless of who might hear or judge them. As they began to praise
Him, their hearts were soon overflowing with the joy of the Lord. The song
of those two men who loved God more than life itself began to flow through
them like a river of liquid love into their cell and out into the entire
prison. Soon, there was a flood of warm light bathing the whole place.
Every demon there began to flee in utter terror of that praise and love
to the Most High. Suddenly, an amazing thing happened. A violent earthquake
shook the prison, the doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose!
Praise God! Praise always brings freedom, not only for ourselves, but for
those around us who are bound up as well.
We must get
our mind off of ourselves and the problems we face and onto the King of
Kings and the Lord of Lords. One of the miracles of a life transformed
by God is that we can be thankful always, and praise Him in all situations.
This is what He commands us to do, for He knows better than we do that
the joy of the Lord is our strength. God does not owe us anything, but
He has made a way for us to receive every good thing anyway, because He
loves us! Is that not a reason for celebration and thanksgiving?
"Though the
fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the
olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep
in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he
makes my feet like the feet of a deer and enables me to go on the heights."
Habakkuk 3:17-19.
"Bless the
Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all
thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life
from destruction; Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thy soul with good things; so that thy youth is renewed
like the eagle's." Psalm 103:1-5 (KJV).
Won't you take
some time right now to re-commit your life to the Lord? If you don't know
Him, ask Him into your heart. If you do know Him tell Him that you want
to know Him better. Confess your sins of worry, fear and lack of faith
and tell Him that you want Him to replace those things with faith, hope
and love. No one serves God by his own strength--we all need the power
and the strength of the Holy Spirit to permeate our lives and continually
lead us back to the precious cross, back to the Living Word. You can make
a fresh start with God, starting this very minute. He will fill your heart
with a brand new song, and joy unspeakable and full of glory!
"But unto you
that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in
his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up (leap) like calves released
from the stall." Malachi 4:2. (KJV)
The above article
written by Mercy Aiken, staff editor of Christ Unlimited Ministries.
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