The Benefit of Stress
From the FamilyLife Marriage Bible: Dennis and Barbara Rainey
Pressure. We work under it. We are driven by it. We try to escape it. We take vitamins for it. We feel it in our chest. Our stomach churns. Our palms get sweaty. And all of us are squeezed by it. Two questions confront us: How do we live with stress? And Is pressure always bad?
The fact is, many of us want less pressure from the things that are good for us to bear. There can be positive effects from pressure. It is not pressure, but our response to pressure, that determines pressure's effect on us. Isn't that what we need to seek God for? We should pray, "Change the pressure rating and broaden my shoulders. Strengthen me, Lord, so I can handle that which has come into my life."
He will. He promised. "Come unto me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My load is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).
You may be experiencing stress because you are carrying burdens you should be bringing to Jesus and leaving with Him (1 Peter 5:7). Or God may have brought certain kinds or pressure into your life to help you grow and become more like Jesus (Isaiah 48:10, James 1:2-4). When the pressure mounts in your life, be sure to cast your cares on Jesus and ask Him for strength to bear up under the load.
Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, summarizes, "It matters not how great the pressure is, only where the pressure lies. As long as the pressure doesn’t come between me and my Savior, but presses me to Him, then the greater the pressure, the greater the dependence upon Him.”
Verses from the above article:
- Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
- See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. Isaiah 48:10
- Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4
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