Our bodies are not designed to deal with stress and anxiety long-term. Over the next several weeks, we will be tackling the topic of anxiety and how we can reduce stress, fear, and burnout.
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How y’ all doing? What a day to be alive. Amen.
Are you ever tired, man? You ever feel sick? You ever feel exhausted? I’ll tell you what, I am so tired of being sick and tired. I hit 40, and all of a sudden, in the last couple years, it’s like I’m exhausted. I don’t want to do anything. And yet there’s so much that I could be doing. I could be hanging out with friends, I could go to dinner with friends, trying to watch a movie for the last two weeks with some friends, haven’t been able to do it. I feel like I am missing out.
You ever experienced FOMO, the fear of missing out? A couple of you, most of you now, you don’t care. Somewhere along the way, I think in the 1990s, I think telemarketer, not telemarketers, but advertisers and marketers created this idea of, like, if you don’t do this, you are missing out, you know, and especially, too, if you scroll through social media, you’ll see people, they’re on these wonderful, beautiful trips, either in Italy or China or wherever, some fancy island or maybe. Actually, you know, what’s really interested me is people going to Iceland to see the auroras, go in the hot springs in the middle of winter. Forget that. That’s cold. I’m kidding.
Actually. If I could do that, I would. But then you could also see people. Maybe they’re doing a fancy dinner, and all of a sudden you feel this pressure. Well, I want that. I want to do that. You know, FOMO, though, in some ways, I think it’s always been there, but it’s been accelerated by this idea of you have a phone that you can look at or a tablet, and all of a sudden you feel like you’re missing out. And what does that do? Well, I want to have that. But then you try to spend all of your time and money chasing all of these things, and what does it lead to? Stress, Anxiety. And being sick and tired of stress and worry.
Social media expert Mark A. Smith said those who used to dine between thick walls, thick stone walls, and had caviar now do so, but tweet about it and can be seen by those sitting down to dinner at Chipotle. Jana Wertham of the New York Times also wrote about a friend who worked in advertising, and she felt fine in her life until she opened Facebook. She said, then, I’m thinking, I’m 28, I have three roommates, and, oh, look, that person has a precious baby and a mortgage. And then I want to die. Wortham claim that social media updates can make our simple domestic pleasures pale in comparison with all of the fun things we could or should be doing. Hmm, comparison.
We try to compare our lives with others and when it’s not meeting that standard, we wonder, well, what am I missing out? And the truth is, it’s okay. Do you have to have everything in the world? No. You know, with the rise in inflation, of course, last couple of years, I felt like we have really felt it.
We worry about our finances. How are we going to pay for anything? Healthcare. How many of you worry about the safety of yourself, your spouse, your children as they drive to work? How many of you, maybe around 9 o’, clock, you check if you have the find my phone or the find my person, I like to call it now on your phone just to make sure that they got safely to work. Even my dad, because I can track him now, can make sure that he gets safely to work. All of these things also, you know, stress, job, all of these things affect who we are. It can impact your marriage, can impact your ability to work.
Have you ever woken up and just did not want to get out of bed because you already felt defeated before you even got out of bed? You don’t want to get out of bed. You have nice comfy sheets and a nice blanket, nice pillows. It feels so nice to be in this cocoon.
And yet we see that anxiety and worry is on the rise. There is this persistent fear or worry. Also, anxiety causes irritability. And how about restlessness, the ability to concentrate on things. Your sleep is disturbed, perhaps your mood. Depression comes easily and sometimes we just want to avoid maybe responsibility, but worry and anxiety. Also, there is a physical cost to this. Cardiovascular issues, including your heart rate, heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure. How about respiratory problems? Being able to breathe clearly, having shortness of breath when you are anxious?
In fact, I’m talking about anxiety. Some of you are probably just already worried. So let’s do this. Let’s all take a deep breath, let it out slowly.
Do we need to do that again? Do it one more time.
How many of you feel better? Amen. Sometimes anxiety creeps up on us that we have no idea. Sometimes we just need to take a deep, big breath and let it slowly. Now, the truth though, is it’s easy to be anxious, especially in today’s age.
When you look through scripture, there’s a few anxious people. How would you feel about being Moses when you’re supposed to be controlling and managing everything, not just a little things, but everything. And then his father-in-law comes over and says, hey, you need to divide these tasks. And all of a sudden all of that weight should have left his shoulders. I don’t know, maybe he was a worry wart, I don’t know.
But he had to cede control because you cannot control everything. How about David, when even the king was after him, everybody was after him. Would that have not been stressful as well? How about Job? We went through a series on Job and how basically all that was important to him was taken away and he was depressed, he was sad.
How about Esther having to go before the king, potentially risking her life not just for her, but for her people. I think of Jeremiah when he essentially tells God, I don’t want to be a prophet anymore. And then how about Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, praying to God, trying to think, is there any other way? Knowing that there really is no other way. And he knew what he had to experience.
This week I heard this interesting quote and it’s very. I don’t think it’s. Well, it’s relevant to today. “I’m so blessed to be stressed.” Think about that.
I am so blessed to be stressed. We may have money, we may have nice cars, we may have a nice house, we may now have all these things. And yet it still gives us stress. And yet I’m still grateful. Gotta scratch my head on that one now.
Okay, I wanna go to Philippians 4:4-7. Very famous verse. Okay, Philippians 4:4-7. And this month we’re going to be focusing on anxiety, being anxious.
And Paul gives us some advice and some wisdom. And we’re going to refer to this throughout the month.
Okay, Chapter four of Philippians four, verse four. And we’re going to read to seven. We all there? All right. It says what?
Rejoice in the Lord. How long? Always. I don’t like that. You know why?
Because internally, I don’t want to always be rejoicing. I love to be able to complain. I love to have this ability to be annoyed by people or when things aren’t going my way, I can complain, right? We like that. It gives us some control.
And when things go bad, God, you’re telling me, Paul, you’re telling me I’m supposed to be grateful for it? Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, not just once, but twice. Rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all.
The Lord is near. Don’t be anxious about what? Anything really, Paul.
But in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request. To whom? To God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So Paul says, even in the good times and the challenging times, rejoice.
Now, there is a kernel of truth to that, because, yes, difficult times can come, and there are lessons that we can take from those lessons from those difficult times. But it’s not always easy. It’s not always comfortable. Quite frankly, sometimes I just want to say, God, I’m done with this situation. I’m over it.
But Paul says to rejoice in everything. And sometimes it’s really hard to let things go. You know, for me, if you’ve worked with me, Bill, Tomas, they have to deal with this. I am OCD about trash on this campus. I don’t like things. And they will watch me go and pick stuff up. I don’t care. I’m about to leave. It’s 10:30 at night, and if I see something, I have to go and get it right. So it’s hard for me again. And like many of us, it’s hard to let it go. And it can sometimes, if it’s not done, it creates what? Anxiety.
Now, is there somebody in the Bible who experience anxiety? Absolutely. And in particular, I want to look at one story now. Let’s jump over to 1 Kings, okay? 1 Kings, chapter 19. We’ve talked a little bit about this in the past, but his story is so relevant to today.
So 1st Kings, chapter 19.
And prior to this in chapter 18. Okay, it’s about Elijah. What had been happening prior to. In chapter 18. He had gone to battle.
With who? The prophets of Baal. And God scorched them, literally. And they’d taken. God had won that battle. But then he finds out what his life is on the line, and he begins to run. Okay, so first kings, chapter 19. All right, let’s start in verse one.
Now, Ahab told Jezebel, everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. And so Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, may the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I don’t make your life like one of them. So Jezebel wants her vengeance there, Ben, a bow. And he put on Elijah’s head. And Elijah was afraid.
He ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to A boom, a broom bush. Sat down under it and prayed that he might. What?
He wanted to give up. The anxiety and the worry was so great, he just wanted to die. He’s basically saying, lord, cut me off, take me away from this issue, okay?
And so that he might die. I have had enough, Lord, take my life. I am no better than my ancestors. And then he laid down under the bush and he fell asleep. Just a side note, I made a short video on this. If you’re having a really bad day, maybe take a nap, okay? Take a quick 5 minute, 10 minute power nap. Maybe your life will be better after that.
All at once, an angel touched him and said, get up and eat. And he looked around, and there by his head was some baked bread over hot coals and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and he lay down again.
Again, not only maybe do you need a nap, maybe you need a little snack or a little water, okay?
So from there, God sustained him physically. And the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. So he got up and he ate and drank again. Strengthened by that food, he traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Oreb, the mountain of God. Then he went into a cave and he spent the night.
You know, at some point, worry and stress will cause us to burn out. Burnout. How many of you feel burned out right now? Maybe you don’t want to admit, but internally in your head, how many of you feel exhausted and how many of you feel burnt out? And for Elijah, he ran.
He ran a long, long distance. He tried to get away as far as he could. And oftentimes, worry and anxiety will lead to burnout at the same time, too. When we’re worried and we have anxiety, we often sometimes want to isolate ourselves. When Elijah began to run away, was he by himself?
No. He had somebody with him, and he left him to continue on, to go by himself. And that complicates things, because when you are by yourself, when I’m by myself, you know who’s my worst enemy? My head in between my ears is my worst enemy. Whether I’m being critical of myself or not thinking I can do it, whatever, you name it.
But when you have somebody there to hopefully bounce ideas off of, to maybe put you back where you need to be, somebody to help keep you accountable, he didn’t have anybody like that. And so it’s also important that when we’re stressed and we’re worried, maybe have a Friend, somebody you can talk to to help you realize, no, you’re not crazy.
But also to help bring balance. Elijah ran away to be by himself.
And the next thing, too, is because in Elijah’s head, he’s probably thinking, oh, she’s after me. Negativity consumes us. Okay? What you read, what you listen to, what you hear, what you watch, what you are consuming, not just what you literally eat, but everything that you think and you listen to nowadays can affect you. Do you think advertisers are looking out for your own good? No. There are so many ways that people want to influence us.
Again, you look at commercials. I’ve shared this commercial before. Mercedes Benz off jamboree. They told me, my life will be so much better if I had a Mercedes Benz. And yes, I will admit I would love to drive a Mercedes Benz. I’ve driven Mercedes Benz. They are a very fine car to drive. But do I need to spend a lot of money on a Mercedes Benz and to keep it up and maybe drive it too fast and then get a ticket or worse, maybe have a crash? Negativity consumes us.
How much positivity is out in the world right now? It’s a very dark, dark world. Right? We’ve talked about this. Negativity consumes us.
And if we live in that headspace, how easy it then for God to talk to us? Can you hear God when you’re surrounded and focused on negativity in your life because of anxiety and worry? We shut God out because we’re so focused on ourselves. And sometimes I was listening to a story yesterday that it gave me anxiety.
There’s a woman who was married to somebody who was very, very controlling. And as she tried to explain the story and the issues, the guys were just saying, hey, you’re already. You’re already making conclusions about things that have not even happened yet. So we need to talk. Don’t. Don’t assume anything.
Earlier today, at the beginning of the service, we read Matthew 6, verses 33 and 34. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. How many of you yesterday were worried about today? Okay, how many of you were worried about today? Guess what? You’re here today. How many of you were worried the other day about yesterday? And you’re still here today?
Now, sometimes life, yes, it can be challenging, can kick you in the gut, and it feels horrible. And sometimes it’s so dark. And sometimes you can’t worry about the future. Sometimes you just have to get to lunch, sometimes you have to get to dinner, and sometimes you have to get to the next day. But I promise you, in those difficult times, take your request and your worry to the Lord. In the good times and in the challenging times, even when you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, worry can kill you. It can physically hurt you.
And so until we can stop and just let’s do it all again, Breathe.
Can we have some clarity? And before you make assumptions of what could happen, let’s take that first step of courage to deal with those issues. So have patience, my friend. Last thing we’ve done already three times. Just breathe.
Just breathe. Take a moment to pause and just breathe. So what gives you stress and anxiety? I’m sure many of you could maybe type a lot of stuff out. We could talk a whole lot more.
And yes, there are truly a lot of things right now that gives us stress and anxiety. This week when you find yourself stressed, as Paul says, take your concerns to the Lord and remember to breathe. Maybe it might be there’s breathing exercises. I know the state app, I think is a state. There’s breathing apps, know doing four breaths.
Breathe for four seconds. Sorry, Breathe for four seconds in, hold it for four seconds, and then release it for four seconds. Breath has a big effect on us. And so if you just need to relax sometimes, just take a breath. But above all, pause.
And once you have clarity, have the courage to take the next step forward. May God bless you.
Father in heaven. Thank you for you have not abandoned us, nor did you abandon Elijah. And yet sometimes it’s so hard because there’s so much noise going on, it’s hard to hear you. And as you also spoke to Elijah a little bit later where you whispered, Elijah had to intensely listen. Help us to do the same and to shut out the noise and to hear your voice. Where sometimes it’s whispering, yet sometimes, Lord, you also speak very clearly. Help us to fight to hear your voice clearly in the chaos. And Lord, we know you have been in the past, you are here with us and you will be with us tomorrow. Help us to have the courage even when it’s so hard to get out of bed. Take this anxiety from us and help us to move forward with grace and courage. In Jesus name, amen.
Grace and peace, everyone.