Stress: Counsel from Scripture
January 17, 2011
S T O R Y
Eileen glanced at her watch. Today she was in charge of the cradle roll division, a group of about fifteen babies and toddlers up to about age two and many of their parents. “I hope Heather remembers it’s her day to help out,” Eileen said.
Serving as church organist was another one of her responsibilities. She gathered up all of the feathered and quilted characters for her stories with the kiddies, picked up a heavy file marked “organ music,” and headed out the door. Husband would follow later.
In a few minutes Eileen was at the church practicing with a group of three singers and a trumpet player that was presenting a special musical number just before the sermon. She barely had time to arrange her organ music for the church service when the children started arriving for cradle roll.
As she maneuvered her way down the stairs from the organ to the hallway, the heel of her shiny black shoes caught in the carpet, sending her flying. Elaine crumpled in a heap. Someone from the congregation ran to her and helped her get up and on her way down the hall to the cradle roll. There was no blood but a bruise was starting to form on one knee. Her stockings were torn, but her dress was long.
After Sabbath school it was time to settle on the organ. To her horror, Elaine saw that the number of the opening hymn as printed in the church bulletin was wrong. Or was the number right and the name of the hymn wrong? She decided to go with the hymn.
During the sermon Elaine thought about the three couples she’d invited to their place for Sabbath dinner. Oh, dear. She suddenly remembered that two of the six people were adamant vegan, and there was some skim milk in the mushroom sauce. She hoped they wouldn’t be offended.
The melody of the old hymn, “O day of rest and gladness,” rang through Elaine’s mind. “O day of joy and peace.” She shook her head. “Maybe I should rewrite that hymn. Sometimes it’s more like, ’O day of stress and sadness.”
1. Leading thought. Do we ever get into stressful situations in our service to the Lord? Is Sabbath for you a lazy time when you sleep more and eat more than on any other day of the week, or is it a frenzy of activity? Do you love being involved in your local church or do you cringe on the sidelines? What about day-to-day living? How much serious stress have you had to handle in the past year or two? Do you feel that you endure more stress than the average person? What does being a Christian have to do with dealing with life’s stresses? Is it a sin to experience stress? Are all of God’s faithful followers free from stress? Discuss.
2. Look at Elijah. Why do you think God was so eager to show His love and care for Elijah? Imagine being by Elijah’s side during the famine. Just when he’s experiencing the gnawing pain of starvation, God sends him lunch. Do you think Elijah’s attitude towards pesky ravens changed when they brought him food twice a day? Can you imagine a situation during the closing days when your supply of food is exhausted just as Elijah’s was? Would you pray for ravens to bring you food? Has God been so close to you and worked so many miracles for you that you will never doubt Him? Or does stress sometimes wear us down no matter what we believe?
3. Killing is stressful. Were you amused or upset by the statement in Monday’s lesson that Elijah no doubt experienced severe stress when he led out in the slaying of hundreds of adults and children? Does God ever order punishment by death today? Why or why not? Suppose you were asked to serve on an execution panel for criminals sentenced to death. Would that situation be stressful to you? If a person can’t handle stress, what happens? Why did God allow Elijah to plunge from a state of victorious triumph to total despair? Can we expect God to pull us out of a situation when the stress seems more than we can bear?
4. Recovering from stress. The authors of our lesson describe Elijah’s experience in the desert with the ravens and his long walk to Mount Horeb as a recipe for his physical recovery from severe stress. Do you think that physical exercise can play a role in coping with stress? When life turns into upheaval, does God care about the quality of our pleas with Him? Does He listen to us only when our prayers follow the examples by Jesus and others in Scripture? Have you ever walked your way out of depression? Are natural remedies (sleep, proper food, exercise) always sufficient to help us deal with extreme stress? Or does medical intervention sometimes play a vital role in helping some of us cope with stress? Discuss.
5. From the woods to the congregation. Have you ever found peace in a retreat to the woods or the seashore as you wrestled with life’s challenges? Does being alone for a while help you achieve a sense of peace when you’ve been battered about by harsh words or judgments? What about putting one foot in front of the other and coming into the congregation of God when you feel downhearted? Do you have friends whose presence helps calm you down or inspires you to become active again? How valuable are true friends in these stressful times?
6. Helping others. Would you agree that most of the stress we feel is caused by our self-centeredness? Have you ever met someone who obviously loves the Lord but is terrified by the idea of standing up and telling other believers about a special blessing he or she has received? What is wrong there? How do speakers and performers overcome stage fright or fear of the audience? If your church started a class for people who suffer from “stage fright,” would anybody come?
7. Sensing His presence. Have you ever asked for the presence of God in your heart when you were facing difficulty? What happened? Do you have a working relationship with the Holy Spirit, the divine Being who hears our prayers and speaks to our hearts? What does it take to have a close walk with God? Does God take away the sources of our stress? If not, how does He help us deal with them?
