Stress is manifested in anxiety. The thinking on the discomfort is rumination. That's when our minds just won't quit! We either live the experience all over again or wish things were different time and time again. With each rumination in the exponential series we feel the physical effects more pronounced. We may think on death or feel that what we're going through is as bad as death! Untreated anxiety can lead to depression and depressed people may become nihilistic. There may be thoughts that death is less hurtful than the stress of the moment.
We've all been stressed to the point of anxiety. I'm blessed! Most of the time my stress is normal. Stress, in moderate amounts, may be motivational or moderate undesired behaviors or thoughts. God uses stress to change unwanted behaviors. The threat of stress even keeps people from sinning!
Just look at what the Bible says about stress (and there is much more) [all ESV]:
Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."It seems that the "cure" for distress is a change in focus. Rather than on "I", it's on the Lord. We are by nature troubled people, and God is the answer to trouble. If things don't go "my way" or "your way" perhaps we should do things "God's way"! Troubled hearts and little peace means that we either fail to appreciate what God has done for us, or that we're still putting other "gods" before him. In effect we feel bad because things are perceived as going against us, or because we make bad decisions. It may be also that we feel bad if we intentionally sin. A troubled heart is one way that God calls us to repentance!
John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."
Psalm 55:22 "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved."
Romans 8:31 "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"
Psalm 118:5-6 "Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"
Of course we can take a pill to feel better! This is "The Prozac Nation" after all. When we hurt there is a pill for everything. Others self-medicate and take illicit drugs. Either way, medicated people fail to depend on God and with too much medication, people aren't sober enough to consider what God has to offer.
"I feel bad!" is the mantra that creates dependency on "feel good" drugs, which will eventually turn "feeling good" into malaise, then to emotional pain. The pain we feel emotionally from stress is most often of a spiritual nature. There's an empty feeling inside which needs to be filled with something! Unfortunately, people fill emptiness with drugs, cults, false religions, the self and sometimes with anger. The emptiness will be filled with something, and God intends it to be with the Holy Spirit!
Nothing is too tough for God. He is generous if we have faith in him. He will protect us from the evil one from whom much distress originates. Iniquity is the devil's gift to mankind and distress are its consequences. Only God can deliver us from what hurts inside!
No comments:
Post a Comment