Pressure and Stress

As pressure and stress bear down on me, I find joy in your commands. [Psalm 119.143 NLT]

There is really only one place to go when the going gets tough: to God's Word.

Pressure and stress are two words most everyone understands all too well. As time rolls on and, ironically, with more conveniences at our disposal than at any other time in history, pressure and stress seem to be exponentially higher. Why is that?

The reason pressure and stress seem to have increased relative to conveniences is because conveniences are not where our help comes from...

Look back at verse 71 in Psalm 119:

My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees. [Psalm 119.71]

Then look at verse 75:

I know, O LORD, that your regulations are fair; you disciplined me because I needed it. [Psalm 119.75]

Pressure and stress are clearly seen in Deuteronomy 28 as curses for disobedience. Deuteronomy 28.20 sums it up well:

“The LORD himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in everything you do, until at last you are completely destroyed for doing evil and abandoning me. [Deuteronomy 28.20]

The problem with conveniences is that we tend to depend on them. We tend to see them as that which makes our lives better. We tend to go to great lengths to obtain and maintain our conveniences. Sadly, these are all areas God wishes to be our help and sufficiency. Consequently, the more we depend on conveniences, the less we depend on God. The less we depend on God as an act of obedience, the more curses, confusion and frustration we will experience.

Tell me its not true.

Unless we turn in repentance to God's Word in our curses, confusion and frustration, the more we will turn to our conveniences... And the deceptive cycle of misplaced trust (idolatry) continues.

Father, forgive me for my dependence upon conveniences instead of You. Forgive me for becoming trapped in the endless cycle of believing that my help comes from conveniences which only leads to me to further curses, confusion and frustration. Father, help me to finally see that my help comes from You and You alone - so that I give Your glory to no one or no thing but only to You.