In this series, we’re going to look at 4 different types of stress and the biblical response to managing it. Here’s the truth. Not one of us has lived without stress. We all face it. We all have felt run over by it. We all need answers for how to manage it.
Each week, we will highlight a woman from the Bible who dealt with each type of stress to further gain insights on how to respond proactively, not reactively when those stressful days come.
This week we’re looking at the reality of emotional stress.
Emotional stress comes in many forms-depression, anxiety, grief, guilt and shame. This type of stress is often fueled by a lack of self-esteem, trauma, ruminating over past mistakes or a fear of failure.
I’ve had my own struggles with self-esteem and fear of failure having an over-achieving oldersister. I’ve struggled with anxiety that gnawing feeling in my gut. Emotional stress is one we just can’t ever seem to escape. It follows us everywhere. But there is hope!
“The presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional.”
Naomi is a woman who understood emotional stress.
Naomi experienced emotional stress- her husband and sons died leaving her alone in a foreign land. So profound was her grief that she wanted to change her name to Mara meaning bitter.
- Ruth 1:1-5 NLT “In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him. The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi. Their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. And when they reached Moab, they settled there. Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons. The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later, both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband.”
- Ruth 1:8-9 “But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers’ homes. And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me. May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept.”
- Ruth 1:16-21 NLT “But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more. So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was excited by their arrival. “Is it really Naomi?” the women asked. “Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?””
- Ruth 4:9-10, 13-15 NLT “Then Boaz said to the elders and to the crowd standing around, “You are witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon. And with the land I have acquired Ruth, the Moabite widow of Mahlon, to be my wife. This way she can have a son to carry on the family name of her dead husband and to inherit the family property here in his hometown. You are all witnesses today.” So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!””
The antidote for emotional stress is trust. Trusting that God is bigger than any circumstance and will see you through the valleys of hardship and despair.
Philippians 4:6 gives us a template for how to trust God.
- The 3 T’s to Trust
- Time out-stop obsessing and start praying
- Train your thoughts toward thankfulness
- Take it one day at a time
