What do we do when we feel overwhelmed by our situation or circumstances?
Typically we run and hide, or become withdrawn, and our thoughts start to turn inward. It’s all too easy to start making the problem bigger through our worrying and inner self-talk.
When you focus on your problems instead of trusting God, then you’re going to end up exhausted. And not only that there is a good chance you’re gonna be defeated, why, because God didn’t design us to fight our battles alone.
We don’t have the power you need to face every problem in your own strength. Only God does, which means we need God’s power in our lives to succeed.
You can’t focus on your problems and focus on God at the same time.
You’ve got to shift your focus to who God is and what He’s promised to do for you. Life is full of experiences that test you, drain you, challenge you, stretch you, and wipe you out. When you are worn out, that’s when you’re ready to say to God, “I’m sorry. I can’t handle this situation, and I’ve tried everything. I need to give it to you because it’s bigger than me!”
So, what should you do when you are overwhelmed?
You stand strong. Standing strong is not standing in our own strength, we’ve already tried this and it got us nowhere. Standing strong is an attitude of ‘quiet confidence in the character of God’. You will be successful when you put your trust in what He says to you through His still small voice, through the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit’s presence.
When you get with God, you’ll never have to give up ground because you are standing strong.
When the burden is overwhelming, you may be tempted to cave in under the pressure. This is a common tactic of the enemy. If the enemy were a tree and you were an axe chopping the tree down, it doesn’t matter how big the tree is you will eventually succeed and the tree will fall. All the tree can do to protect itself, and to stop being felled, is to get you to stop chopping. If it does this then it is safe. And so it is with our adversary – if he can get us to stop doing the things God has called us to do then he wins!
God doesn’t want you to back down from difficult situations. He doesn’t want you to sacrifice your integrity. God wants you to trust him through the challenges and learn from them. Think of an elastic band, if it is left lying loosely on the table, not being stretched, it achieves nothing. To come into its created purpose it needs to be stretched. Stretching can be painful and challenging, but in God’s hands He is building up resistance, and developing us into who He designed us to be. So, we need to be patient in the stretching, and be willing to learn through the process.
If you run away from the hard things, there is a good chance that you’ll miss out on learning from God, and that you will come back round full circle to repeat that lesson.
God is committed to your success.
But you need to focus on him and trust him and his Word if you want to stand your ground.