We see life from the sidelines. God sees it from the stands. As we increase perspective, we leave the sidelines and begin working our way up.
G.K. Chesterton's character, Father Brown, said "We are on the wrong side of the tapestry." How evident. We see the bunches, the growls, and the frayed underside. In any case, God is on the right side of the tapestry—the side He is meshing into a delightful gem. We may not generally recognize what the Master Artist is doing in our lives. In any case, the important thing is, He does.
When we see the almighty God on the position of royalty of the universe—God our Father focused on our good—we are relieved of much stress. Also, the stress we should even now encounter leave us far more extravagant.
Having a biblical perspective is seeing life through God's eyes. It is seeing order in turmoil, use in the futile, and good in the awful. If we are to create eyes to see God's hand in all things, we should believe (not really comprehend) what Scripture says in regards to the motivation behind stress. Stress is a compelling instrument in the hands of our God, an apparatus that is planned both for His brilliance and our good. In this article we will take a look at some ways God utilizes stress.
- God utilizes stress to get our attention. God made our bodies. He created them to send us messages. In the event that I put my hand into fire, my body will send me a message, rapidly and plainly. If I disregard it, I'll pay the price by getting bruises.
C.S. Lewis said "torment is God's megaphone." Some of us are almost deaf. We overlook physical, mental, and otherworldly cautioning signs. God needs us to tune our ears to the messages He sends us through our minds and bodies.
- God utilizes stress to enable us to redefine or rediscover our priorities.
Bill and Evelyn's marriage relationship was a distant one. They had drifted apart over some years, emptying themselves into their occupations and neglecting their family. However, when their child Jason was found possessing heroin, the months that followed brought crisis … and furthermore the desire to pull their marriage back together.
Everybody has priorities. Some have never picked or encountered the correct ones and need to redefine them. Some of us have long known the correct priorities and just need to rediscover them: we've tasted right priorities, yet we've enabled ourselves to drift away from them;
we've replaced fellowship with entertainment, giving with collecting, and family time with the TV, the garden, working, the chores etc
By deserting our God-given priorities we set ourselves up to take in a hard lesson. Generally we do what the Israelites did: lived in polished houses while God's home turned into ruins
Haggai 1:4
"Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?"
Accordingly, God sent absence of fulfillment, thwarted expectations, and disappointment as His messengers. He withheld His blessings till his people rediscovered their priorities.
Twice in Haggai 1:5-11
Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.
6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.
8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord.
9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.
10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.
11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
God's people are reproved to "Give cautious idea to your ways." Stress should take us back to the basics. It is a chance to rethink our priorities and align them with God's.
- God utilizes stress to draw us to Himself.
Over and over 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 was at Jonah's breaking point, in his most stressful conditions that he said this: > "He said:
“In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry."
Jonah 2:2
The Psalms are full with references of turning to God, looking for Him and discovering Him in the midst of extraordinary stress.
In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.
Psalms 18:6
I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me
Psalms 120:1
At the point when our lives are comfortable and stress free, we pull back from the Lord into our own universe of spiritual freedom and disconnection. Conceited and smug, we overlook what life is really about. In any case, as the thirsty
look for water, those under stress frequently look for God. Numerous non-believers have come to Christ and numerous believers have come back to Him in the midst of stress.
- God utilizes stress to discipline us. Citing Solomon's words to his child, the writer of Hebrew says
"And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?
Hebrews 12:5-7
To a few of us, this doesn't sound so encouraging. Be that as it may, we fail to acknowledge how basic discipline is.
The Bible says that to withhold discipline from a child is, basically abuse:
"Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.
Proverbs 13:24
Discipline is remedial. It is medicinal, not vindictive. God sends stresses not to turn the tables on us for messing up, yet to extend our reliance on Him to do right. Despite the fact that the stressful experience may appear to be unbearable at the time, it is at last just for good:
Hebrews 12:10-11
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby
- God utilizes stress to reinforce our confidence.
1 Peter 1:7 lets us know:
"These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
There is just a single way a muscle develops—through stress. A muscle that is rarely exercised decays; it recoils into futility. To grow, a muscle must be taxed. Alot of demands must be put upon it.
Stress is a request put upon our confidence. Without it our confidence won't, can't, develop.
In the process of stress, as we draw on our assets in Christ, He gives us confidence and strength to break through and rise above the hard -top layer of life.
All bible verses gotten from Biblegate