Did you know that Americans consume millions and millions of pounds of Tylenol and aspirin every year?
Tens of millions suffer from high blood pressure.
And our generation can be described in three words: hurry, worry, and bury.
Stressed!
We are stressed-out people!
Overworked.
Overextended.
And, overwhelmed.
We are tense. All stressed up and nowhere to go. We may get there but we still don’t know where we are going.
I have good news!
The Bible has a great prescription for overcoming all of this tension.
These are three Bible techniques for dealing with stress.
Bible Techniques for Dealing with Stress
The first of the Bible techniques for dealing with stress is to acknowledge the PROBLEM OF STRESS.
The Bible says, “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young man will butterfly fall,” (Isaiah 40:29,20).
Stress is that gap between the demands placed on us and the strength we have to meet those demands.
Can you picture this?
On the one side of a gap are the demands that I face, that is, the necessities, deadlines, and opportunities–all the things I must do, want to do, and ought to do.
And on the other side stands my and my weaknesses. That’s the problem of stress.
No matter who you are, you will find yourself staring across a chasm.
Even young people push hard, only to discover their strength is gone.
The Bible doesn’t call it a sin to be stressed.
Stress is just part of our lives.
The second of the Bible techniques for dealing with stress is to see the PROMISE OF STRENGTH.
“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint,”
(Isaiah 40:31).
The word “renew,” which is the Hebrew word chaleth, literally means “exchange.”
You see, the Christian life isn’t so much a changed life as it is an exchanged life.
We take our so-called strength, which is weakness, and we trade it for God’s strength.
How do we wait on the Lord?
That is the crux of the matter and the answer to stress.
Most of us think that waiting on the Lord is a form of passive sitting around waiting on God to do something.
But it actually means to pursue Him actively.
To wait on the Lord is to:
When you wait upon God, you are the one to take the initiative.
The last of the Bible techniques for dealing with stress is to PURSUE THE PROGRAM OF SERVICE.
Why does God give us strength when we wait on Him?
So we can rise above our adversaries. So we can pursue opportunities of service. And, perhaps most importantly, so we can walk faithfully with Him, calmly facing the grind of life.
Victorious Christian living is not primarily soaring like an eagle or running like a deer. It is walking day by day for Jesus Christ, trusting Him for strength to accomplish the little things.
So much of our time is spent in regular activities: cooking breakfast, folding laundry, driving carpool, going to work, and so forth.
When we can do all of these things and still praise Jesus, that is the victory.
Finding joy in the ordinary–that is the goal.
As we press in close to Him and wait on Him, we can enjoy hope no matter where we are or what we are doing.
What Does This Look Like in Real Life?
You may be wondering what it looks like to exchange our weakness for God’s strength.
For me, it means a daily moment of complete surrender. It means asking God to fill me up to the brim and then to overflowing.
At times, I do this by lifting my cupped hands up to heaven.
Other times, I raise my arms high above my head in praise.
Some days, I sit quietly on the closet floor asking God to empower me.
Still, on other mornings, my request comes as I lift my face up and praise along with worship music.
There are even days when I just look up and say, “Help!”
No magic formulas are needed.
More than anything, we fill up on the strength of the Lord when we recognize and acknowledge our great need for Him.
God Almighty is the Strength of our lives!
Portions of this article were adapted from the Adrian Rogers’ Legacy Bible. (Isaiah 40, pages 794-795).
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Loved this article. We must remember to approach even tasks we don’t like with patience, joy, and always love
You are so right, Jacquelyn!
Hope you have a blessed day~
Melanie