Nailed to the Cross, Part III

As we continue with our study, I'd like to move on to exploring how we can limit our stress . . .

Stress is not always a bad thing. Some stresses are good for us. Going on vacation is a positive stress that relieves negative stress. Getting a promotion at work is a positive stress. Becoming a parent is a positive stress.

We can limit negative stress by applying the counsel of Jesus.

Matt. 6:25-34, "25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

When we put the Lord first, we limit many of our negative stresses, because He has promised to meet all of our needs; He is the Rock of Ages; He is there for us in time of trouble; and He is the refuge from the storm.
The Bible does have an antidote for stress. It is called faith. Often when we are worried, it’s because we are worried about something that might happen. Many of our fears never come true. Anxiety is worry about what might happen. I think many people fear what is on the other side of the wall. We cloud our minds with so much of the darkness of doubt, that we prevent the sunshine of hope from coming into view.

Heb. 11:1, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Heb. 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

The Bible also encourages us to be cheerful.

Ps. 51:12 "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."

I'm sure that you can point to many other verses about joy and cheerfulness.

So, we can limit worry, anxiety, and stress. But here is where the rubber meets the road....many of us will take our burdens to the cross, and lay them there. But as we turn to go, one hand will slip out and grab it up! We must leave our troubles with Him!
Our title for this study is "Nail it to the Cross." I want to encourage each of us to visualize taking our burden to the foot of Christ's cross. Then I want you to pick it up and hold it against the cross, as high up as you can. Take a hammer, and nail that worry, that anxiety, that stress, to His cross.
You see, it takes a lot more to take back your burden if you have put it there more permanently. You will need to get your hammer back out, and slip the clawfoot portion under the nail and pry, and pry, and pry.
Let's leave our burdens with Him -- He is powerful, and compassionate; He cares for us; He is able to handle anything we nail onto the Cross.

Nailed to the cross, Part II

We're focusing our thoughts this week on a verse from the New Testament; we'll be back to Proverbs next week. We're talking about stress, worry, anxieties, and gray hair.
Seriously, here is our verse:

Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you. I Peter 5:7

Not to go too far down a rabbit trail, but we live today in an extremely fast-paced world, no? Yes.

You can be driving down the interstate just a smidge over the speed limit, trying to get to your destination on time, and a car or truck will blow by you like you are standing still!
We have UPS and FedX and other companies who scurry around getting packages to somewhere very, very quickly, and we all know of kids that want to grow up even more quickly!
We must be careful when we grocery shop, for we may collide with someone who is in a big hurry to collect their purchases and scamper home, and we must be careful at the gas station or we may bump into (literally) someone who is anxious to fill and go as fast as humanly possible!
Meals must be prepared, and then eaten, in a hurry. It seems that everyone and everything is rushing, hurrying, scurrying....
Did you know that our bodies respond to stress in many ways? Every system in our body (heart and blood vessels, immune system, lungs, brain, sensory organs) are "at the ready" for the perceived need. Keeping our bodies at such a fever pitch can have long-lasting effects . . .
Do we approach our worship and prayer time with our Father in the same rushed way that we do other situations in our lives? That's an important question -- maybe we should pause to consider that before we go any further?

What advice does the Word give for stress?
Do you recall the words of an old hymn, "What a Friend we have in Jesus"? 
What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He'll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

There is a boatload of good theology in that hymn:
No matter what our problem is, we have a high priest that understands our weaknesses:

Heb. 4:14-16, "14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

Not only that, but our God can solve our hardest problems:

Matt. 19:26, "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."

And why is it that we carry our burdens so long? In the words of the hymn, "what peace we often forfeit" by not turning them over to Him:

Matthew 11:28-30  Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

We'll continue with our study tomorrow. I hope you'll join me again.

Nailed to the Cross

I'm going a little off base here today....the Lord laid something on my heart that I wanted to share. We'll resume in Proverbs soon.

Many of us have heard the wise counsel "hand over your burdens to the Lord" and "lay your worries at His feet" and other such sayings. These are all very true and very wise. They are even scriptural; for example, Peter tells us to cast our cares upon Him, for He cares for us.

Then why do we, as Christians, and especially as Christian women, have so much trouble with worry and anxiety?  I think this is a topic that we need to explore, and I hope to take a day or two and look at it with you, my friends in Christ.

You'll see, in time, the reason for my title. For now, let's start our study:

"Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you." I Peter 5:7

Do you notice that instead of "cast" in the verse, it says "casting"? In my studies for this series, I read that there's a reason for that. The "ing" on the end makes it a participle (I probably should have paid a lot more attention to that grammar professor) and it means that it's dependent on the premise from verse six --- that had to do with humbling ourselves.
Here is how both verses look together:
⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

"Casting" is not a command, but a way of humbling ourselves. We humble ourselves by realizing that we must hand over our cares, anxieties and worries to God. His care, then, comes to us when we depend on His grace.
Sometimes I tell you about the Hebrew words and their meanings -- today we need to look at the Greek. Casting means to "throw upon, roll onto, deposit with." The secular Greek language used "casting" to draw a picture of a man who carried a heavy burden and threw it onto a camel's back.  God wants us to roll our burdens onto Him. Instead of anxiety that causes us to panic, to lose focus, God wants us to have a target for those worries -- that target is Him.
God doesn't design the circumstances and situations of our lives to break us, but to "make" us. We need to move from trusting in our own strength and in our own strategies, to resting in God, and in His resources.
He is willing and able to carry the heaviest burden for us.
When you are under pressure from worry, stop and take a breath. Remember you are His child, and relax in His grace.

“Blessed be the Lord,
Who daily loads us with benefits,
The God of our salvation! Selah” (Psalm 68:19).

We'll talk more about this in the next few days. I hope you'll join me.