“So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
John 5:16-17
Overwhelmed is such a debilitating feeling. Your feet feel frozen in place with a tidal wave looming over you. The sense of coming disaster is all encompassing. There is no way to fight and flight just isn’t possible. After all, what’s the point of running when you’re about to be swallowed up in despair?
When I feel this way, it’s usually when I’m tired, especially at the end of a day when I’m a bit depleted of energy and focused on all the things that just didn’t go right that day, or the last few days. During this time I just can’t imagine that God is there. As I look at the coming doom, I just can’t see God and suddenly I feel abandoned.
Where is God in all this?
Why has He allowed this to happen?
And that is the thought that really makes me sink. Where is God in all this? Why has He allowed this to happen? I didn’t deserve this!
And that last one is the hardest one to look back on. Because it’s the one that I use to justify myself. After all, I’m really trying. I read my Bible, never miss church, try to be a good person, … you probably know this list. It’s all the usual reasons, most of them a little too generous to myself, a little harsh toward God. Nothing seems to make me feel more human than justifying myself and blaming others.
But then I have to remember, God must be working still, even if I don’t see Him. Right?
And our thoughts wander amid the gloom: “I’m sinking… where is God?” “I’m lost, has God let me go?”
Start with stopping.
Stop looking for answers and start looking for God. Stop trying to figure it out and start being open and honest with God. Start with trust in the God who loves you more than you even love yourself. For God has pursued you your whole life, has pursued all of us, since Adam and Eve failed to trust Him with a doubt in their minds about His love for them.
And then, begin reading Psalms, and pray them, and pray them, until they are your words, until God meets you in His word.
When you read the Psalms, it is like listening in while the psalmist sings or prays to God. In fact, the Psalms are often called the Prayerbook of Jesus, or more accurately, the Songbook of Jesus since a psalm is a song. Jesus quotes the Psalms at least eleven times and all New Testament writers quote it 79 times, more than any other book in the Old Testament.
Jesus and his disciples sang psalms during the Last Supper as a part of the passover liturgy. Also, one of his final utterances on the cross quotes Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1).
If the savior of my soul reached for a psalm during His anguish on the cross, perhaps we should reach for psalms to express the anguish of our hearts as well.
Psalms for an overwhelmed believer. (There are so many more than just these.)
“The Lord is my light and my salvation and—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?“
Psalm 27:1, 5-6, 10, 13-14
“For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord“
“Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.“
“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.“
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you”
Psalm 56:3, 11
“In God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
“But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love”
Psalm 59:16-17
“Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah”
Psalm 61:4,8
“So will I ever sing praises to your name, as I perform my vows day after day”
“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation”.
Psalm 62:1,5-7
“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God”
Say them. Pray them. Sing them: over and over, day by day. Not only are they beautiful expressions of the heart, they are deeply theological expressions that teach us about God.
Will this help you solve your problems today? No, no it probably won’t. But you probably can’t solve them today anyway and that’s why we feel overwhelmed. You can’t, but God can. And if He doesn’t, he’ll walk with you in the midst of them. He is the God who has promised, “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
What Bible verses help you remember God loves you and will be with you?