Grief & Anxiety: Cause and Effect Part 3

Intro

What is the answer to grief and anxiety?

For sin - repentance

Heavy burden - submission to God

Attack from satan - resist him

Rejected message for God - remembering who formed you and why

Feeling alone - Look to the future (Elisha)

Exiting God’s will - yield back into His will

Unmet expectations - trusting in God

Overwhelming work and complaints - ????????

Psalm 61 KJV 1900

To the chief Musician upon Neginah, A Psalm of David. 1 Hear my cry, O God; Attend unto my prayer. 2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 3 For thou hast been a shelter for me, And a strong tower from the enemy. 4 I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah. 5 For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. 6 Thou wilt prolong the king’s life: And his years as many generations. 7 He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him. 8 So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, That I may daily perform my vows.

David had many things in life to be overwhelming:

Losing a baby

Son trying to kill you, his own father

One son raping a daughter

One son killing another son

Overwhelmed: crushed by the weight

The answer: Get to The Rock (1 Corinthians 10:4 “4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” )

The Solid Rock

Don’t just ask God to take the weight off - it may be in His will to apply some pressure

Don’t delay in coming to God quickly - when you come to the Rock, you come in faith

Hebrews 11:6 “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.”

Be patient

Romans 12:12 “12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;”

Sometimes we need someone to help us get to the Rock

“Lead me to the Rock”

Sometimes we just need that person who will help us along to do what you need to do

We usually know what we need to do, but sometimes we just need someone who is willing to lead us back to that Rock…

Getting away from the Rock is never the answer…

“I’ll come back to church after I get my life straightened out.”

The Rock is the help and yet people go away from the rock when being crushed by the weight of a burden

185 It doesn’t matter how great the pressure is. What really matters is where the pressure lies—whether it comes between you and God or whether it presses you nearer his heart.

James Hudson Taylor

The pressures of life are the hands of the Potter.

Anonymous

A pressure point is often applied to receive involuntary compliance… Go one direction when the body doesn’t want to…. Pressure is applied to make anew and better… Pressure is needed to distinguish the pattern of the form…