…is one of the dumbest phrases to come out of coffee mug Christianity. As if our faith, and the God of the universe, can be summed up in a little soundbite quip. To deny ever feeling stress is to deny your own humanity. God created us with a vast range of emotion, and each one exists for a purpose. The problems arise when we go too far down either end of the spectrum: we reject the feelings outright or we are consumed by those thoughts and feelings.
We see this right now in quarantine. On one side you have the people who think that since they feel fine then everything is fine. On the other side you have people who haven’t looked away from the news in two months and every sniffle or cough has them updating their will. I hope we’d all agree that both sides go too far. Our current experience aside, being human means that you are going to feel stress from time to time.
Our goal is to avoid either extreme of our spectrum. A side where we deny ‘til we die or fixate so strongly on one thing that we miss out on the other parts of life. If you are aloof to life, there isn’t much help I can offer other than to say that you are loved and there are people that need you to care. However, if you are someone who gets consumed by stress, I want you to know that you are loved and there are people that need you to share your attention.
The writer of Psalm 118 recognizes that there are times when we will feel overwhelmed. In verses 5-9 they remind us what to do when we are faced with these feelings.
5 When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
He brought me into a spacious place.
6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
7 The Lord is with me; He is my helper.
I look in triumph on my enemies.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in humans.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
The Lord is with me, He is my helper. In times when we feel lost and overwhelmed, when the stress of life is crushing down, we have a savior that wants nothing more than to shower us with loving kindness. Share your cares and fears with the Lord because he wants to hear them. God wants to walk with you in the good times and the bad. We are never too stressed to be blessed.