The Tug of War: Time, Stress & Priorities VS. God, Eternity & Joy

Recently someone noted that he felt overwhelmed with the stresses of life (yes, I think you overheard this, too - but probably not from the same person). That got me thinking about our life in this world and the next. Inevitably, we get bogged down with the incessant demands of activities, relationships, work projects, hobbies, events, schedules, home life, church life, maintenance, technology, and so many other things. All of this can rise to a toxic level as we find ourselves out of  focus, out of sorts, and seemingly out of options. This appears to be a universal experience, especially for those of us who live in the Western world.

In such a state, we find it almost impossible to get our scattered minds settled on the Gospel. Prayer and contemplation become luxuries we feel we can ill afford. Bible study turns into a quick glance at a Psalm - or perhaps nothing at all. We begin to count on the preacher's sermon to get us through the week, and we rely on a few restless moments of sleep to carry us through the steadily advancing days. But those hours are gone too quickly and each day's new mercies get buried under the clutter of our busy-ness.

Yet for each of us there comes a time of true rest, eventually. That rest will be chosen by us through a painful decision to cut off things we enjoy but don't need, or it will be forced upon us by circumstances and ill health and mental strain and the unexpected breakdown which finally forces us to pause. We might be angry when this happens. But at the end of it all is God, calling us to Himself in a voice that is at once quieter and more persistent than all of the earthly demands. His sheep know His voice, and we follow Him. If not, He binds our legs together and slings us over his shoulders and carries us. We seem to be out of commission, but we're actually in a wonderful place of trust-building dependence. These are hard lessons to learn, but necessary to our growth under the difficult reality of being time-bound and priority-driven. It will be wondrously freeing to enter eternity, and be swept up in an intent God-focus that cannot be turned even slightly by the raging distraction of less worthy things.

Till then, this is a wretched and uncomfortable life, filled with sorrow, trouble . . . and flashes of imperishable delight whenever He shows His hand or reveals His smile. Mercy and grace are drawing us up to our eternal rest, even as this world wraps its tentacles more tightly around our feet. We may feel pulled in two different directions, but let us lift our heads and smile up toward the One Who holds our hands more tightly and tenaciously than this world's distractions ever could. He won this tug of war before we knew it.

Resting Quietly in God

Existence as a fallen creature in a fallen world has its way of pressing in upon us. We worry about this and fret about that. Many real dangers, actual hurts and immanent threats surround us. But we must rest in the sovereign hands of God.


Too often we look to other people and expect to find satisfaction, security and solace in their words. Many times we walk away from such exchanges having only stirred up more worries and doubts, and perhaps we've added a bit of strife for all our trouble. Occasionally, a person will lead us to the Lord and provide real benefit. Perhaps we weren't looking for God's input, so we depart from potentially helpful fellowship with a feeling of emptiness or defensiveness. Man's words cannot satisfy our hearts - only "that which proceeds from the mouth of God" can.

Sometimes I simply talk to God about my fears. When I cast my cares upon Him, looking not to the creature but to the Creator, I find a strange and almost unbelievable peace that "passes understanding." It's like a little piece (or "peace") of heaven has been deposited in my soul. All is hushed, and God alone is present. My worries get wrapped up in His overarching goodness. Such moments come in unexpected times and places, not usually in church or religious gatherings. In a quieter place, in a moment of silence, God speaks loudest.

This is not to say we don't need fellowship with other believers, but the things we learn in godly fellowship often lie dormant and unapplied until we get alone with God and hear Him reiterate what He said to us in a group setting. The saints play their essential role, but God alone causes the Word to bear fruit in us.

Are you resting in Him, or are you looking to creatures who are just as tied up in knots as you are? People who are just as sinful and broken, just as destructive, just as damaged, just as dangerous.

The things that people did to us were filtered through the loving hand of God, but we must not blame Him for what He allowed. He designed those disappointments for our benefit, and the benefit of those who cross our path. If we take our hurts to Him, His healing grace becomes the medicine we share with others. Such empathy is the vein of gold that runs though the raw ore of our sufferings.


In holding onto our hurt, we blame both God and man for what was done. We accuse them both and make them both our enemy. We fail to see that God has been working all our lives to redeem us from our own sin. We miss the ways He used the sins of others to draw us, that He might reconcile us to Himself and also to one another. In distrust of God, we cling to the ore and cheapen the gold. It's a shameful waste of perfectly good sufferings.

Only when we look to a sorrowful Savior in His passion, agonizing for ALL the sins of the world, can we get enough perspective to forgive others, trust God, and rest. Only when we see what our sin did to Him can we appreciate grace. Then we accept our troubles as gifts from God, and bring them trustingly back to Him. We find our transgressions forgiven and love inundating our hearts. In quiet moments of discourse with God we can find such wonders as these.