PSALM 94:16-19 – Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers? If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.”
THEME OF THE DAY: LESSONS TO LEARN WHEN LIFE IS OVERWHELMING. Each of us could own today’s scripture. Not a single believer is foreign to the Psalmist’s feeling of desperation. We each know the feeling of being overwhelmed when the cares of the world are weighing us down, tempting us to anxiety, and coming at us like a tsunami of difficult circumstances, situations, and relationships. Yet, our God in His mysterious ways of working His will of making us like Jesus uses times of being overwhelmed in life to teach us invaluable spiritual lessons. Consider three with me.
First, God shows us how weak we are in seasons of being overwhelmed to teach us dependency on Him. Listen to the Apostle Paul as he learns this lesson – For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again (2 Corinthians 1:8-10). When overwhelming times come upon us, stop and ask, “Am I trusting the Lord in this?” If we know how weak we truly are, we will welcome such times as we grow in our relationship with the Lord.
Next, God overwhelms us in life to reveal to us who is really sovereign, and it isn’t us – The Lord of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand (Isaiah 14:24). One of the tragedies in the fall of our first parents in the Garden of Eden is that sin created within us an independence that yearns for the power of control and change. Granted, it is stronger in some people, but who has not been in a tough circumstance or challenging relationship and attempted to control the former and change the latter? In His love, God will overwhelm us to show us we are in control of nothing and cannot change anyone. And there is great spiritual freedom when this lesson is learned and lived.
Finally, God teaches us true prayer and fellowship with Him when life is overwhelming. When do we really come to Him? When we have nowhere else to go! When we are overwhelmed. There are numerous Psalms which are prayers that reveal this truth. Here is one from David when he is overwhelmed with fear – Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil (Psalm 56:1-5). Don’t stay overwhelmed. Seek the One who is using this season to draw us to Himself.
Yes, God has many teachers in His school of discipleship for His children. One of His choice ones is overwhelming us in life. Let’s learn the lessons He would have for us in those seasons.
PRAYER: “Father, thank You for being my faithful Teacher and often using overwhelming circumstances to teach me.”
QUOTE: “God teaches us through hard times and comforts us when we go through hard times.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim