Article Updated: September 03, 2017
What you think may be true because there are no “stress” words that you can read in the Bible. However, there are words especially from the New Testament that is synonomus to the stress we are experiencing nowadays. Some of them were derived from Greek words which can be translated to "trouble", "persecution", "despair" etc. Let’s extract the meaning of the word “trouble” according to Dr. Harold Sala. One of the verses you can find such is on John 16:33- “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have
trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” According to him, the word "trouble" in the verse can be phrased into difficulties, pressure or stress. This gives us the idea that even the prophets, the disciples and the great servants of God in the Bible experienced stress at one or many times in their life.
God’s servants and their stresses
Here are few characters in the Bible who had experienced pressures in their lives while serving God.
- Daniel- Put yourself into his situation when he was thrown into the lion’s den. Without his sincere prayer, he might be attacked and eaten by all wild and hungry lions. Psychologists may often call his stress as ‘Terminal stress.’
- Esther- Convinced by her thought with only one choice to save her fellow Jews, she was determined to put her life at risk. Whatever things you might be thinking in her situation, it is still considered as stress.
- Joseph- He was blamed and was punished from accusations that he didn’t do. He was sentenced to jail and that could become a great trouble for him. If other men would be placed into his tempting situation, most would definitely fall in the seductive hands of Potiphar’s wife. All other struggles that Joseph faced can be regarded as a form of ‘acute stress.’
- Elijah- One of his biggest stresses was when he saw the Cherith brook gradually drying. This compares to the dryness of your bank account so it is still a stress.
- David- if you were David, you might be highly pressured for your new position to rule the Kingdom as anointed by Samuel. It gives you more burden since King Saul is very much fugitive that he doesn’t want to leave his throne.
- Moses- Imagine being a servant-leader just to free the Israelites from egyptian slavery. Think also of the time when he was disobeyed by the Israelites, when he was cursed and was teased by the Egyptians. Despite the fact that he had accomplished a great mission for God, some of the stress we are experiencing now can be incomparable to his struggles.
- Paul- If only there is an award for a person who experienced a number of stresses in his/her life, nothing beats the experiences of Paul especially starting from the time he became a Christian. It started from an argument when Barnabas did not join him in his mission. He even experienced shipwrecks, snake bites until he came to the point of being put into jail. Paul faced a lot of sufferings and inconveniences and you can read more in the Bible.
Conclusion
By reading all of these, it is in my earnest hope that you’ll be able to realize all the pressures these people experienced in the olden Biblical times. Remember that faith is not about having lesser levels of stress or achieving success in life but on how we put our trust and belief in God in the midst of these situations.
Furthermore, there is a man who experienced the most stressful of all the most stressful life in the world. He was the revelation as the Son of God. He shouldn’t have experienced it because he was sinless. He shouldn’t deserve to be punished because he never committed any crime but because of his love for humanity, he accepted and suffered a bigger stress that I, you and everyone should deserve. He did it because he loves us. He wants us to be free. He is Jesus Christ, the son of the living God. He is a saviour and a friend whom I only entrust everything especially when I am stressed. If you want to learn more about him, I encourage you to read the Bible.
SOURCE: Boredom, Stress and Burn out, How do I handle? By Dr. Harold J. Sala
