![]() But as the thirsty seek for water, those under stress often seek God. Smug and self-satisfied, we forget what life is really all about. When our lives are comfortable and stress-free, too often we withdraw from the Lord into our own worlds of spiritual independence and isolation. I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me ( Psalms 120:1). From his temple he heard my voice my cry came before him, into his ears ( Psalms 18:6). In my distress I called to the Lord I cried to my God for help. The Psalms are full of references of turning to God, seeking Him and finding Him in times of intense stress. It was in Jonah’s darkest hour, in his most stressful circumstances that he said this: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me” ( Jonah 2:2). Time and again it was said of the people of Israel, “But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them” ( 2 Chronicles 15:4). It is an opportunity to re-evaluate our priorities and bring them in line with God’s. ![]() Twice in Haggai 1:5-11, God’s people are admonished to “Give careful thought to your ways.” Stress should take us back to the basics. He withheld His blessing till His people rediscovered their priorities. In response, God sent lack of fulfillment, disillusionment, and failure as His messengers. In essence we do what the Israelites did: lived in paneled houses while God’s house became a ruin ( Haggai 1:4). Others of us have long known the right priorities and merely need to rediscover them: we’ve tasted right priorities, but we’ve allowed ourselves to drift away from them we’ve replaced fellowship with entertainment, giving with buying, and family time with the television, the lawn, the remodeling job, the causes, and the committees.īy abandoning our God-given priorities we set ourselves up to learn a hard lesson. Some have never chosen or experienced the right ones and need to redefine them. ![]() But when their son Jason was found in possession of heroin, the months that followed brought unprecedented crisis… and also the desire to pull their marriage back together.Įveryone has priorities. They had drifted apart over many years, pouring themselves into their jobs and shortchanging their family. God uses stress to help us redefine or rediscover our prioritiesīill and Evelyn’s marriage relationship was a distant one. God wants us to tune our ears to the messages He sends us through our minds and bodies. We ignore physical, mental, and spiritual warning signs. Lewis said “pain is God’s megaphone.” Some of us are hard of hearing. If I stick my hand in fire, my body will send me a message, quickly and clearly. In this article we will look at some ways God uses stress. ![]() Stress is an effective tool in the hands of our God, a tool that is intended both for His glory and our good. If we are to develop eyes to see God’s hand in everything, we must believe (not necessarily understand) what Scripture says about the purpose of stress. It is seeing order in chaos, use in the useless, and good in the bad. Having a biblical perspective is seeing life through God’s eyes. And the stress we must still experience leaves us far richer. When we see the all-powerful God on the throne of the universe-God our Father committed to our good-we are relieved of much stress. We may not always know what the Master Artist is doing in our lives. But God is on the right side of the tapestry-the side He is weaving into a beautiful work of art. We see the knots, the snarls, and the frayed underside. Chesterton’s character, Father Brown, said “We are on the wrong side of the tapestry.” How true. As we gain perspective, we leave the sidelines and start working our way up. But have you thought about what they look like from the sidelines? Pointless, confusing, apparently meaningless. Ever been to a football game at half time when the band forms words or pictures in the middle of the field? They look great from up in the stands. ![]()
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