God & stress. These two words probably shouldn't be in the same sentence. Lately, God has been teaching me a lot about how to handle stress in a godly way. For the past 6 weeks I have been studying for one of four CPA exams I need to take for my accounting career. Throughout these 6 weeks I have been on a roller coaster of emotions from peace, to worry, to fear, to anxiety, to carelessness, and much more. I expected the completion of my exam to make all those feelings go away. But it didn't. And for several days after my exam I was still feeling so much tension. I realized that God was teaching me a big lesson.
Of course, we all know that stress is a result of worry and anxiety about present or future circumstances. And of course, we know that this is not what the Lord wants of us:
1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."
Psalm 55:22 "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved."
Matthew 6:34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
But even reading these verses, it's still hard to overcome stress. And I realized, stress ultimately comes from us trying to be our own gods. I stress because I don't have control over the situation and I don't trust God enough to work. God doesn't delight in our stress; He delights in our trusting Him. And I think oftentimes he puts stress in our lives or allows stressful things to happen to show us that He is our only source of refuge.
Psalm 34:5 "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will act."
It's a lifelong lesson to learn, but if we can let God be God and trust that He is good, we should have nothing to fear or stress about.
Hope this encourages you as it has encouraged me this week :)
