by Senior Pastor Corey Bjertness
I want to draw your attention to two verses from the scriptures that help me put stressful, crazy, and chaotic seasons of life into perspective: Psalm 107:27 which says, “They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end,” and John 6:17 which records, “It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.” What do we do when we are at wit’s end, and Jesus has not shown up? Sometimes the feelings associated with these seasons are overwhelming! Let me share three principles for handling these stressful, crazy, and chaotic times.
1. STRESS IS A GOOD THING
Perspective matters, and when we think of stress as being a bad thing, our perspective is wrong. Yep, you heard me correctly. Stress is our friend. I will go so far as to say that stress is the only thing in your life and mine that has ever created any significant growth. The human condition allows for very little progress apart from pain and stress.
Take a moment and look back on your life. Look for the seasons of significant advancement in your physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual capacity. Those seasons very likely were not seasons of ease but were seasons of extreme stress. Take college, for example. What is college if it is not paying people to stress you? College, in its rawest form, is paying professionals to inflict enough stress on you so that you learn to become vocationally capable. Good things come from these stress-filled times.
St. Paul will write in Romans 5:3-4,
"…we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character, and character produces hope.”
Stress and suffering produce! If the hatchling does not struggle against the egg, it will never fly. It is not so much different for us.
Stress is our friend, but DISTRESS is our awful enemy. Distress is a nemesis which, like all great foes, wars against us with vigilance, and passion, never tiring, never sleeping, never stopping. Distress occurs when we take our eyes off God and keep them firmly fixed on ourselves.
So, rather than praying that stressful, crazy, and chaotic seasons go away, try praying like this:
PART ONE : Lord, during this season of stress, I humbly ask for your Holy Spirit to guide my heart and mind to grow in my knowledge and trust of you.
Perspective matters, and when we focus on ourselves and our problems, we fail to see God at work. Distress magnifies problems and minimizes God. The art of handling stress with success is to keep the emphasis on things that give life. This is easy to say and hard to do.
Today, a focus on the pandemic, national and global politics and social unrest in America moves us quickly to distress. Hyper-focus on these things, and you will soon be enjoying a conversation with your physician about the importance of Serotonin for your mental health. St. Paul recognized the importance of focus on the right things when he wrote in Philippians 4:8,
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
Paul knew that it is more important to tell your stress how big your God is than to tell God how big your stress is. So, rather than praying that stressful, crazy, and chaotic seasons go away, try praying like this:
PART ONE : Lord, during this season of stress, I humbly ask for your Holy Spirit to guide my heart and mind to grow in my knowledge and trust of you.
PART TWO : And Lord, help me to keep my eyes on you and on good and Godly things you are doing in the world.
3. FOCUS ON THE TRUTH
Perspective matters, and focusing on good and Godly things is never an excuse to dishonor the truth. God is always about the work of bringing about good in the world. Always! But, we as individuals and as a species are often undermining God. Sin has not gone away. Evil still gets to vote. Even in the hearts and minds of the redeemed, there is a constant war between good and evil. St. Paul writes in Romans 7:15,
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”
Do you want to lower your stress? You will do so when you eliminate all pretense between you and God. King David will say, “Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me.” The great king makes no room for pretense between himself and God; neither should we.
Have you had a good sit-down chat with the Almighty lately about your sinfulness? If you have not, might I suggest you get to it soon? Nothing puts us at peace with God quicker than realizing we are not at peace with God apart from the saving work of Jesus. Only when we see our great need do we see God’s great solution in Jesus Christ. When we confess our need for God, the peace of God becomes our constant companion.
So, instead of praying that stressful, crazy, and chaotic seasons might go away, try praying like this:
PART ONE : Lord, during this season of stress, I humbly ask for your Holy Spirit to guide my heart and mind to grow in my knowledge and trust of you.
PART TWO : And, Lord, help me to keep my eyes on you and on good and Godly things you are doing in the world.
PART THREE : But, Lord, use this season to ensure I do not become so self-absorbed that I forget that I need your forgiveness, your grace, and your mercy – as does the whole world.
FINAL THOUGHTS
These are stressful times. We wonder, naturally, when the next shoe is going to drop. Already this year, we have gone through so much. It is like a bad infomercial that keeps on saying, “But wait! There’s more!” Yet, our stress does not need to turn to distress. If we keep our eyes on God and the redemption that comes to us through Jesus Christ, we might find this was the year we grew the most. Thanks be to God. Now, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and your minds safely in Christ Jesus, today and forever. 