And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest
(Exodus 33:14).
A friend had come to my house one wintry, weekday morning to jump start my
car. I had called him at work and he graciously offered aid to me in my time of need. But
something unplanned occurred right about the time we were finished. He and I stood between
the two cars, talking. We had already gotten my car started and was letting it charge for
a moment when suddenly it started moving toward us. It seemed that my son, who was about
four years old at the time, had managed to sneak into the car and somehow put the car into
gear. Our first reaction was to try to hold the car off, pushing against it vigorously. My
friend soon grasped the futility of our efforts and hurried toward the driver’s side
door, got into the car and put it in park. One has to wonder how much we would have
accomplished if we stayed where we were--pushing against the car rather than stopping
it’s forward movement. It’s really pretty obvious that we would have been
wasting our time and energy trying to hold off the car than simply putting it in park.
It may seem to have been a simple problem. One might wonder how anyone would lose their
head and not have quickly surmised the solution. Yet, for a moment, we panicked. We did
not think but instead, we reacted. We did not wisely approach our situation but jumped
into a predicament that could have been made worse. Within that moment, the problem was
not so simple--and the solution was far more complex.
Take a good look around and you will see many people living life with the same kind of
response. You will see people overwhelmed by the momentum of daily living, and you will
see them reacting to the pressures that seem to come upon them so suddenly--or so it would
seem. Within such a place it is often difficult to see new ways of doing things; ways that
might be quicker and more productive. Instead, we enslave ourselves to a way of living
that is almost self-defeating at times. And we continue to stand in a dangerous place,
pushing against the pressures, the stresses and the difficulties, rather than looking for
more sensible solutions. We fall prey to predisposition and predetermined approaches. We
listen to common sense above spiritual wisdom, and we tell ourselves that we have to do
what we have to do, making ourselves helpless to change any part of our current situation.
What we may have forgotten is that Jesus came to give us freedom and life abundant. We
were not created to be a slave to life but to have life, and life more fulfilling. There
is so much of what we claim we have to do for one reason or another that seems to be
sapping the life right out of us, making us tired and cranky and less of the “light
of the world” than we could be if we weren’t exhausted all of the time. God
designed us as such that we flourish when we are balanced in our living. We will be at our
best--for everyone’s sake--when we are applying wisdom to our living rather than
trying to push against the momentum of life’s pressures.
In considering how to move back toward balance, let us keep in mind that when we are
overwhelmed, it is a natural tendency to feel helpless to do anything about it. So we
first must realize that we are going to have to give it to God to begin with. We must ask
Him to take control and give us wisdom so we will find His answer for how to stop the
momentum, and then we must be obedient to His guidance. God has a plan, but its not likely
to involve your pushing against your life pressures--but instead, getting control of them
through His guidance, wisdom and strength.
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