“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.”
Do you have a gallon jug in your refrigerator? You don’t need to get it, just imagine it. Now imagine another next to it, and another, and another. Keep adding jugs until you get 2000.
Every day your heart pumps about two thousand gallons of blood through your body. Stifle your heart’s ability to pump blood and you guarantee yourself an early retirement—from life!
Heart disease is the leading pump stopper in the United States. Stress contributes to heart disease in a big way.
You don't have to be a corporate executive, a professional bungee jumper, or a bullfighter to experience stress. Stress comes from "big stuff" and little stuff.
Hurricane Irma is big stuff! So is a life-threatening disease, or a debilitating condition! These sorts of challenges come with being human.
Contending with the "small stuff" is also a necessary experience. And as hard as the big stuff is, usually, it is the steady dripping of the “small stuff” that puts us over the edge.
Despite the popular admonition, we do sweat the small stuff:
- Being late for an appointment
- Giving a presentation
- Deciding which bills to pay
- Waiting on a late repairman
- Figuring out what to do when a babysitter cancels, or a date collapses.
- Not finding the supplies when preparing for Hurricane Irma.
Big stuff, little stuff—it is all stressful stuff!
“What is tying you up in knots today?”
It's time to identify it and deal with it! David shows us how.
David was was on the run from one of his own sons. His kingdom was crumbling before his eyes. This was BIG STUFF on the "small stuff -- Big Stuff" continuum. But that was okay. David knew what to do with it.
But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high. I cried out to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy mountain. I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me. I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies who surround me on every side. Victory comes from you, O Lord. May you bless your people. Psalm 3:3-6,8 NLT
David gave his stress to God. He spelled out his problems and trusted God to meet his needs.
“God came through!”
God gave David a good night’s sleep, 24-7 heavenly security, and a lion’s heart to face his foes.
Do you have stressful stuff? You can hang onto it or you can give it to God. Giving your stress to God is not pretending your troubles don't exist. It is crying out to God. It is declaring, "God, you are bigger than this!" . . . and then resting in the fact that he really is.
Giving your stress to God is clinging to the promises of God's Word rather than the cries of your anxious heart.
- I will never leave you or abandon you. Hebrews 13:5
- My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
- God is my stronghold. Pslam 59:9
- But as for me, God's presence is my good. Psalm 73:28
- I have made the LORD God my refuge. Psalm 73:28
God IS a shield about you. Give him your stress. Find his rest.