Overwhelmed
Do you ever feel overwhelmed? Does life overflow your coping
mechanisms? Are you on overload? I think that is increasingly how many are
experiencing life today. The pace of change is accelerating and exploding life like
the waves in the photo above taken by my landscape photographer cousin, Douglas
F. Frank. Have you ever stood on the rocks near the crashing surf, listening,
watching and even feeling the cold spray on your face? It is both exhilarating
and sometimes frightening.
This is not a new phenomenon; the pace is just being exacerbated
in today’s climate of momentous change. Isaiah the prophet who walked the earth
as a “God Speaker,” some 700 years before Christ has some centering words to
say to all of us, if we are willing to listen and reflect. ‘“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass
through the waters,
I will be with you; and when you
pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through
the fire, you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you
ablaze”’ (Isaiah 43:1-2). This is God speaking to
Israel, the chosen people who feared their enemies. Do you fear the enemies? If
you answered NO! then you are boastfully kidding yourself. Unless, of course
you believe the One who said these words at a core heart level. If you hold God
as your Savior and Lord in your spirit intimately or personally, you have the
only advantage that will take you through the storms of life so dramatically
personified by Isaiah in this passage.
I
spent the pre-dawn hours this morning meditating on the truth of this promise
of God. There are some 7,500 promises in Scripture. Many are conditional,
requiring us to do something to be able to claim their power. For example,
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and
lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He
will direct your paths.” What an incredible promise of God, as long as
you do not lean or rely on your own understanding, plans or power. You are then
on your own, subject to the winds and the waves of life to wash over you and
even drown you. That does not mean that if you trust God that you will not have
waves and rains, fires and flops. They are just part of all of our lives. In
fact, suffering and pain are endemic to our existence. Americans do not have a
very good theology of suffering. We just think that we should have a pain-free
life. We think we deserve good things. But this world is flawed, ever since the
first man and woman screwed up in paradise.
Now
you might not believe in original sin. That’s OK, but you still will have
problems. Oh, and by the way, God’s arm is long enough to keep you from being
overwhelmed or burned to death. Perhaps one of the most used phrases I hear
regarding life is, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” Well, the
truth is as follows, “And do not grumble, as some of them did—and
were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as
examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of
the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you
don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to
mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you
can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you
can endure it” (1
Corinthians 10:10-13). The things Paul is talking about that happened to the
Israelites in the desert were bad and as a result of their sin and
disobedience. The key to this passage is that we must trust and obey God in all
things, otherwise we will not be able to stand and we will be overtaken by the
storms of life.
I can
tell you that I have been overtaken by storms many times in life. Fear of life
occupied my first 40 years. I inherited or absorbed it from my parents, who
lived in fear of life. They tried to perform and live up to societal
requirements, not God’s. As a result they relied on distractions, like alcohol
and parties to help. They did work hard and serve as volunteers to many
organizations, not out of joy or gratitude for God’s love, but out of
obligation. As a result, in the end they hated how they had lived, until they
received the forgiveness and grace of God when they received Jesus Christ as Lord
and Savior in the last months of their lives. The good news is that they
accepted the message of forgiveness and eternal life that I was privileged to
share with them from the Lord; the sad news is that it came just before their
earthly lives ended.
I had
lived under this curse of sorts for 40 years of my life. Only after receiving
the invitation of salvation directly from God in a blizzard at perhaps the
lowest part of my life, did I begin the long and arduous trek to peace and joy
that is now in and through me by the Holy Spirit. I have found Christian
counselors, God’s Word, promises, and Holy Spirit power in my weakness through
God’s love. These have transformed me to overcome the curse of the fathers that
the Bible speaks of visiting on the third and forth generations. God’s covenant
faithfulness and love is forever. He continues to transform me to throw off the
heavy burdens of the past that have affected my body, mind and spirit. “These
things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you
will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). This is the promise of
God for those who believe and trust in Him.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts.