On the Road to Emmaus: Dealing with Stress
When we are feeling overly stressed by the trials of life, let’s turn to the LORD in prayer, all night if we have to!
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Life can be stressful. Someone once said, “Show me a man without any stress in his life and I’ll show you a man who died two days ago!” The fact is we all have to deal with stress in our lives. How do you deal with it? Do you quietly endure it, letting it build up inside, hoping to never let on that it’s getting to you? Or do you lash out each time your stress level starts to climb, in the hope that by letting it out you can get it out of your system and move on? The problem with both of these methods is that eventually stress always prevails. The one who keeps it all in blows up eventually; and the one who lets it out never really gets it out of their system, it keeps coming back causing them to blow up again and again. In the end, the battle is always lost and we lose control.
What about our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who never sinned, neither was any deceit found in his mouth? Do you suppose, being a man without sin, that he never felt stress? Well, we know from Scripture that he endured tremendous moments of stress. So how did he endure without ever losing control? Scripture tells us that when our Lord was feeling particularly distressed he turned to his heavenly Father in prayer. Sometimes the stress was so bad that he would pray all night. In the Garden, we are told that he prayed so vehemently that the sweat that came from him was like drops of blood. Yet in his time of need, his prayers were always heard, and his stress was relieved without ever overtaking him.
Let’s take a lesson from this. When we are feeling overly stressed by the trials of life, whether it is at work, at home, or within the ecclesia, let’s turn to the LORD in prayer, all night if we have to! Because the LORD assures us that if we do, He will hear our prayer and relieve our stress.
Tell God every detail of your needs, in earnest and thankful prayer, and the peace of the LORD which transcends human understanding will keep constant guard over your hearts and minds, as you rest in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7 JB Philips).
Jim Sullivan, Stoughton Ecclesia, MA