Message of the Month by Pastor Paul February 2020
How to handle stress in these perilous times
“In the last days there will come times of stress. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God."
(2 Timothy 3:1-4 RSV).
We started the New Year by looking last month, at how to live victoriously in these perilous times The word “perilous” in “ Timothy 3 can be translated: “difficult,” “terrible,” “dangerous,” “violent,” “distressing” and as quoted above, the Revised Standard Version translates it: “times of stress.” How true that is of our day when millions of people around the world are feeling so stressed that they are living on tranquillizers to try and cope with it and many will probably be on medication for the rest of their lives because of it.
As believers we are also under pressure because of our own problems and because we are in this world which is “groaning and travailing until now” (Romans 8:22).
As well as the idea of being stressed in these perilous times, the Bible uses these words many times: “trials, tribulations, troubles, hardships, ordeals, difficulties, distresses, persecution, affliction, suffering, adversity, disaster.” All of these are stressful and God’s word has much to say about how to handle these kinds of circumstances, here are a few examples….
Romans 5:3 We can glory in tribulations, because tribulation produces perseverance; character; and hope in us.
Romans 8:35-37 – There is victory through Christ:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
Romans 12:12-19 – Persevere in tribulation – Pray – think of others – bless those who cause you stress – overcome evil with good
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 “My grace is sufficient for you.” We can take pleasure in distress in order to experience His strength in our weakness.
James 1:2 “Count it all joy” As believers we can be grateful for trials because they produce patience and maturity
1 Peter 1:5-7 “Greatly rejoice” – Patient endurance of trials proves the genuineness of our faith – and the end of it is glory!
When it comes to stress we are in very good company – all the heroes of the Bible experienced it including Job, the Psalmists, Peter, John, Paul and Jesus Himself (remember the Garden of Gethsemane)!
Believers can experience victory over stress in the following ways…
BY ENTERING GOD’S PROMISED REST
“Since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest. (Hebrews 4:1-3)
“To whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:18-19)
“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4v9-11)
Rest is the opposite of stress. The Children of Israel did not enter God’s promised rest because they did not trust Him and were disobedient. They had seen His works but they did not understand His ways (Hebrews 3:10). In order for us to enter His rest we have to stop struggling and striving – trust God to work where we cannot.
That applies firstly to our salvation – we cannot save ourselves, there is no amount of good works that we can do, we simply have to trust in what God in Christ has done for us – and then we are saved by faith. The same principle applies to every other aspect of our lives from then on – we need to stop struggling, stop trying to do things in our own strength. We need to STOP when we find ourselves getting tense, and panicking and instead, consciously TRUST and rest in His love.
This week I was on my way to the Bible college on Monday morning, travelling on the bus to catch the train and I suddenly realized that I did not have my house keys in my pocket. I looked everywhere but they were not there so I tried to phone some people who live near to my house to see if one of them could go and see if I had left the keys in the door – and none of them were available.
I was concerned for a number of reasons – if I had left the keys in the door someone could have taken them and then I would have to have the locks changed and this would take hours to organise. Also I was about to miss my train and I had a seat reserved so I did not know if I would have to buy another ticket. but did not panic the way I might have done years before. I got off the bus at the train station and I knew I had to get back to the house as fast as possible. As I got off the bus there was a taxi parked just in front of where the bus stopped – I have never seen one there before and I’ve done that trip many times so that was a real provision from the Lord because if it had not been there I would have struggled to get one since usually the taxis are on the other side of the station two streets away.
The driver took me home – and yes I had left the keys in the door - they were still there! He then took me straight back to the station and I caught the next train with a great sense of relief and gratitude – and I did not have to buy a new ticket! I thanked the Lord for looking after me but most of all that whereas in the past I would have panicked badly, on this occasion although I was concerned, I remained calm. He has brought me to a place of rest and trust in Him and that is a comfort to know – I just need to keep trusting Him every time something goes wrong!
BY RESTING ONE DAY A WEEK
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:8-11)
Another way that God has provided for us to be able to cope with stress is in giving mankind a weekly day of rest – as believers we need to learn how do that properly – to rest from our labours and to hallow (make holy, separate, distinct) our weekly day of rest but not in a legalistic way like the Jews of Jesus’ time did.
The world around us is stressed out yet many people even have two days a week off – but so often the world spends that time in a frantic way rushing around and they go back to work not rested in their souls at all. If we are not careful, as believers we can end up doing the same and sometimes that happens even with all our church activities that we feel obliged to fit in over the weekend! We have to individually find ways to hallow the day of rest in a way that fits our busy lives and if we do, we will save ourselves a lot of stress and we can go back to work refreshed and renewed from resting and being in God’s presence more prepared for the stress that is surely coming at some point in the week!
BY COMING TO JESUS AND RECEIVING HIS REST
“Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
In times of stress run to Jesus and give it all to Him and let Jesus minister His rest to your soul. As always, Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter! Circumstances around us (however stressful) can and will change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. We often cry to Him to change our circumstances but He is much more concerned with giving us rest within our souls than taking the problems away.
He said “In this world you will have tribulation but fear not I have overcome the world” – If we have rest and peace in our souls, we can survive any circumstances and live victoriously and our faith-filled handling of stresses will contribute to the character that He is working to form in us.
He does not want us just to endure and survive in these stressful times – as believers He wants us to overcome and really live with a quality of abundant life like He did. You cannot give to others what you do not have yourself so when Jesus said “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” it was because He had it to give to us. He was a “Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” – no one experienced more stress than Jesus – but He surely was the most joyful, restful, peaceful, positive, loving person who ever walked this earth!
His Spirit is within us – and He will give us rest – in a restless, stress-filled world!