Tag: stress

The Wounded Healer (Psalm 18:1-6, 43-50)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
By French painter Georges Rouault (1871-1958)

I love you, Lord;
    you are my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
    my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
    and my place of safety.
I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
    and he saved me from my enemies.

The ropes of death entangled me;
    floods of destruction swept over me.
The grave wrapped its ropes around me;
    death laid a trap in my path.
But in my distress I cried out to the Lord;
    yes, I prayed to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
    my cry to him reached his ears…

You gave me victory over my accusers.
    You appointed me ruler over nations;
    people I don’t even know now serve me.
As soon as they hear of me, they submit;
    foreign nations cringe before me.
They all lose their courage
    and come trembling from their strongholds.

The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock!
    May the God of my salvation be exalted!
He is the God who pays back those who harm me;
    he subdues the nations under me
    and rescues me from my enemies.
You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies;
    you save me from violent opponents.
For this, O Lord, I will praise you among the nations;
    I will sing praises to your name.
You give great victories to your king;
    you show unfailing love to your anointed,
    to David and all his descendants forever. (New Living Translation)

King David, the psalmist, had no problem with publicly expressing his great feeling of love for God. His desire was to be thoroughly devoted to the Lord; and he confidently discerned God as the source of his strength.

What’s more, David freely recognized God as the One who brought him deliverance. David cried out in distress. In his despair and desperation, he looked to the Lord, and God responded.

This is in contrast to those who complain about God and consider the Lord as distant and uncaring – if existing at all. David’s experience was that of being heard by God. And he wanted everyone to know, so that the faithful may be encouraged.

David didn’t want people becoming discouraged because of the bitterness of others who accuse God of being unconcerned.

The psalmist was not just talking about some mundane request, like asking for parking spot close to the building. David was in a life-and-death situation, stressful beyond imagination. Things were not looking good for him.

It seemed that the insolent, who think God isn’t watching, believed they could act unjustly and do whatever they wanted. Sadly, their lust for power and control blinds them to the larger reality of an invisible God who sees, and who responds at just the right time.

David wanted people to remember and not to forget about the saving actions of God. Because by keeping in mind who God truly is, then we can have confident trust, and will live in a way that is right, just, and good.

“Our service will not be perceived as authentic unless it comes from a heart wounded by the suffering about which we speak.”

Henri Nouwen

A good, right, and just life is always the appropriate response to divine mercy and deliverance. We are saved from evil, so that we might live in the spiritual freedom of purity and peace. And David gave God some due praise, adoration, and thanksgiving for rescuing him from his enemies.

Since David went through all of the adversity, hardship, stress, and suffering of dealing with unjust people, he was in a position to be a wounded healer for us.

A wounded healer is not someone who endorses a victim mentality. Rather, this is a person who has been profoundly hurt – physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually – and comes through the experience with an ability to be present with others and help facilitate healing in those who suffer.

Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5, NIV)

We all suffer and face various hard circumstances. And we are all changed by the hurtful encounters. But we don’t all respond the same way to that adversity. The difficult experiences of pain lead us to become either bitter or better.

If we have a wounded healer in our life, there is a good chance that we will be able to move through the hardship and come to a place of gratitude for what the Lord has done for us and how God brought us deliverance.

“As followers of Jesus we can also allow our wounds to bring healing to others.”

Henri Nouwen

Deliverance may not end up looking like anything we anticipate. If we are stuck on particular outcomes and have a singular expectation, then we may very well miss the Rescuer when the ship of salvation shows up.

Yet, if we can remain open to and aware of God – as well as of what’s going on inside us – then we shall likely experience healing for our deep wounds of pain. And we will embrace the scars it leaves as a reminder of the Lord’s deliverance.

It could be that things don’t change, at least like we want. In such times, perhaps the greatest healing that can take place is to be healed from the need for healing.

The Lord shows unfailing commitment and steadfast love to the faithful, to those who seek God. We shall find the divine in all circumstances, that is, if we seek God with all our heart.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13, NIV)

Pain cannot be taken away unless we enter into it. So, it only makes sense to me, that we have a guide like the psalmist to lead us, and a Savior like Jesus to rescue us.

“Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one’s being, but by integration of the contraries.”

Carl Jung

May you be patient in suffering, as Christ was in his earthly pain.

May the Lord be near you in your time of weakness and wondering.

May God sustain you by divine grace, and grant you courage not to have a failure of faith.

May you know healing of both body and soul.

And may you always believe that what happens to you in this present life is of little account if you hold Christ in eternal life. Amen.

Be Helpful, Not Harmful (Psalm 119:113-128)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

I hate two-faced people,
but I love your teachings.
You are my hiding place and my shield.
My hope is based on your word.
Get away from me, you evildoers,
so that I can obey the commandments of my God.
Help me God, as you promised, so that I may live.
Do not turn my hope into disappointment.
Hold me, and I will be safe,
and I will always respect your laws.
You reject all who wander away from your laws,
because their lies mislead them.
You get rid of all wicked people on earth as if they were rubbish.
That is why I love your written instructions.
My body shudders in fear of you,
and I am afraid of your regulations.

I have done what is fair and right.
Do not leave me at the mercy of those who oppress me.
Guarantee my well-being.
Do not let arrogant people oppress me.
My eyes are strained from looking for you to save me
and from looking for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.
Treat me with kindness,
and teach me your laws.
I am your servant.
Help me understand
so that I may come to know your written instructions.
It is time for you to act, O Lord.
Even though people have abolished your teachings,
I love your commandments more than gold, more than pure gold.
I follow the straight paths of your guiding principles.
I hate every pathway that leads to lying. (God’s Word Translation)

I don’t know about you, but disingenuous people drive me nuts. This is the type of person who is nice as pie to your face, but then walks away and talks smack about you to another. They seem to always have an agenda in order to get ahead, gain power, and be in the know, so that they can have leverage against you.

There are other people who try to avoid doing wrong and always try to do right. There are yet others who either bulldoze or sleepwalk through life, doing what they will, with impunity, unaware of how they’re damaging people’s lives. And then there are those who try to steer clear of what they consider the biggie sins, while having no problem indulging in so-called little sins. 

Selfishness, self-centeredness, and unawareness of the self’s impact on this world will create all sorts of problems for others. Indeed, sin is messy business. 

No matter the form or the attempt at dealing with one’s selfish proclivities, the bottom line is that we all engage in such behavior because it benefits us, that is, we like doing it. We might not always like the consequences and the fallout of self-centered living, but it sure feels good while it lasts.

Humanity needs a complete reorientation of the heart. Rather than hating every way that doesn’t benefit me, we must learn to hate every way which is contrary to God’s good commands.

The psalmist proclaims and affirms that all God’s precepts are right. It’s important to hate every false path which deviates from the true self and the common good of all persons. 

If we indulge in self-centered ways because we like them, the road to thinking of others and their needs is learning to hate my false self and false belief systems – to loathe them so much that it’s like a nasty stench in our nostrils. 

Hating sin comes from the acquired taste of loving God’s commandments. When we come around to cherish and desire God’s Word, then selfish sinful desires gradually become so odious to us that we want nothing to do with them.

The reason the psalmist could proclaim such an extended love song to the commands of God, is that he tried them, ate them, and imbibed them. And how good they were! It caused him to forsake every selfish way in trying to achieve human enjoyment. 

I encourage people to have a solid plan for reading (or listening to) Scripture every day – because it really has the power to reorient us from being selfish jerks who harm others to becoming unselfish thinkers who help others.

Scripture changes our taste buds. Sustained, consistent, daily eating of the psalms will teach us to want God and God’s ways – while forsaking the dark path of insolence and oppression in order to satiate our own selfish wants.

The psalmist committed himself to avoiding worthless selfish situations, as well as steering clear of harmful people with the propensity to doing wrong. They are fickle, double-minded, two-faced people, divided in their loyalties.

On one side of their mouth, they talk a good line about faith; and then talk out the other side of their mouth, spewing a bunch of worthless gobbledygook which, at the least, adds no value to anything, and, at worst, wrecks good plans and harms others.

If there are people in authority over us who don’t give a wit about our most cherished values, we will likely find ourselves tasked with doing things which rub against our understanding of Holy Scripture. In this state of moral distress, we are pushed, pulled, and tested in our single-minded devotion by the double-minded selfish person to do what we are uncomfortable with.

In the stress and crucible of trouble, we need the courage to speak up, despite the fear of repercussions. And that strength is only possible if we have a resilient spirit with the capacity to sustain our personal integrity in the face of distress. That is, we need God and God’s Holy Word.

Scripture and fellow believers provide support; we need to care for one another as a community of redeemed persons who seek to live into the words of ways of almighty God.

It can be tricky business, wisely trying to discern between what we to accept and what to pushback against. Yet, with God, God’s Word, and God’s people, we possess all the resources required in living the spiritual life and navigating the selfish world we inhabit.

Almighty God, I pray that you will deal with me according to your steadfast love and teach me your statutes. I am your servant; give me understanding so that I might know and live by your commands and forsake the evil of the world. Amen.

Learning to Trust (Psalm 4)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

Answer me when I cry out, my righteous God!
    Set me free from my troubles!
        Have mercy on me!
        Listen to my prayer!

How long, you people,
    will my reputation be insulted?
How long will you continue
    to love what is worthless
    and go after lies?
Know this: the Lord takes
    personal care of the faithful.
The Lord will hear me
    when I cry out to him.
So be afraid, and don’t sin!
    Think hard about it in your bed
    and weep over it!
Bring righteous offerings,
    and trust the Lord!

Many people say,
    “We can’t find goodness anywhere.
    The light of your face has left us, Lord!”
But you have filled my heart with more joy
    than when their wheat and wine are everywhere!
I will lie down and fall asleep in peace
    because you alone, Lord, let me live in safety. (Common English Bible)

The psalmist, David, was a man after God’s own heart. But that did not mean that he was inoculated from trouble and hardship.

David had a lot of adversity and much difficulty throughout his life. So, it only made sense to him to cry out to the Lord for deliverance and help. God had helped David in the past, and David was confident that the Lord would help him yet again.

We all find ourselves in a tight spot, between a rock and hard place, at times. It’s what we do when we are in that position that is critical. David had a history of looking to God, seeking God’s grace, and soliciting answers to prayer.

David, the psalmist, was a real victim of slander and lies. More than once in his life, he had people out to get him, to actually take his life. Whatever your understanding of stress is, it doesn’t get much more stressful than someone hunting you down like an animal to literally kill you. I’m sure that many times David wondered how long this surreal madness was going to go on.

Whenever we are especially stressed, it can be hard to even breathe. If we aren’t mindful of ourselves, we will take lots of short staccato breaths that only feed anxious signals to the brain. It leaves us in a perpetual state of hypervigilance, almost unable to pray and have thoughts of God.

But we absolutely need to take deep breaths and trust in God’s sustaining presence. We’ll never get to sleep, nor stay at rest, without a sense of the divine presence.

Insomnia happens for a lot of reasons. Many people have diagnosed sleep disorders that are very real medical conditions. Others can’t get a good night’s rest because of poor sleep hygiene by not planning for adequate sleep, drinking too much caffeine during the day, inattention to a healthy diet, or a host of other habits. Some have issues of chronic pain which can make it difficult to sleep well.

And then there are yet others who suffer from racing thoughts, anxiety, and depression. The stress of their waking life is so significant that several hours of deep sleep seems only like some pipe dream. It’s impossible to sleep when the weight of the day is pressing on you. Finding a sense of calm before bed isn’t easy—especially when you can’t unplug from the demands of your day.

I am wondering if many of us will even allow ourselves to unplug and establish some quiet wind-down time. Reading a real book – not one on a backlit tablet device – or talking with a friend or family member are simple ways of easing our anxiety and letting rest come.

The psalmist, David, had a regular practice of meditating on Scripture, recalling the events of God, and expressing gratitude and praise for answered prayer. Each of us has a built-in spiritual rhythm just like we have a circadian rhythm. Always trying to buck those God-given rhythms will inevitably result in being “off,” at the least, and experiencing debilitating depression, at the worst.

Yet, when we learn to move with the unforced rhythms of grace, there is a groove we slip into which serves us well. In other words, what I am trying to say, is that by allowing ourselves to be human, we can discover health.

David neither had delusions, nor illusions, about his enemies, friends, others, and himself. He didn’t try to be somebody he was not. Instead, David had firm and confident convictions about God and the place of prayer.

By taking in a steady diet of David’s psalms, we can learn to hold together both faith and doubt, confidence and confusion, perseverance and perplexity, in ways which strengthens our faith.

Everyone of us who desire God must learn to trust; and it’s in the school of hard knocks where our faith is developed in order to sustain us for a lifetime of service and resilience.

There will always be those who believe ill of us through slander, lies, or outright oppression. In such times, let’s cry out to God for both peace and guidance; and ask the Lord for help in learning to breathe, lie down, and get some rest.

As our trust develops, we may even find the grace and courage to confront our oppressors, so that they can seek their own peace with God.

May Christ be with you, and within you;
May Christ go before you, and linger behind you;
May Christ be on your right, and on your left;
May Christ hover above you, and bring support beneath you;
May the Lord Jesus Christ completely and thoroughly surround you, now and forever. Amen.

Handling a Stressful Situation (Daniel 2:24-49)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Daniel Interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream, by David Martin (1639-1721)

So Daniel went to Arioch, the man the king had appointed to wipe out Babylon’s sages. Daniel said to him, “Don’t wipe out the sages of Babylon! Bring me before the king, and I will explain the dream’s meaning to him.”Wasting no time, Arioch brought Daniel before the king, telling him, “I have found someone from the Judean exiles who will tell the dream’s meaning to the king.”

In reply the king said to Daniel (whose name was Belteshazzar), “Can you really tell me the dream that I saw, as well as its meaning?”

Daniel answered the king, “Sages, enchanters, dream interpreters, and diviners can’t explain to the king the mystery he seeks.But there is a God in heaven, a revealer of mysteries, who has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the days to come! Now this was your dream—this was the vision in your head as you lay in your bed:

“As you lay in bed, Your Majesty, your thoughts turned to what will happen in the future. The revealer of mysteries has revealed to you what will happen. Now this mystery was revealed to me, not because I have more wisdom than any other living person but so that the dream’s meaning might be made known to the king, and so that you might know the thoughts of your own mind.

“Your Majesty, you were looking, and there, rising before you, was a single, massive statue. This statue was huge, shining with dazzling light, and was awesome to see.The statue’s head was made of pure gold; its chest and arms were made from silver; its abdomen and hips were made of bronze.Its legs were of iron, and its feet were a mixture of iron and clay.You observed this until a stone was cut, but not by hands; and it smashed the statue’s feet of iron and clay and shattered them.Then all the parts shattered simultaneously—iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. They became like chaff, left on summer threshing floors. The wind lifted them away until no trace of them remained. But the stone that smashed the statue became a mighty mountain, and it filled the entire earth.

“This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its meaning:You, Your Majesty, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given kingship, power, might, and glory to you!God has delivered into your care human beings, wild creatures, and birds in the sky—wherever they live—and has made you ruler of all of them. You are the gold head.But in your place, another kingdom will arise, one inferior to yours, and then a third, bronze kingdom will rule over all the earth.Then will come a fourth kingdom, mighty like iron. Just as iron shatters and crushes everything; so like an iron that smashes, it will shatter and crush all these others.As for the feet and toes that you saw, which were a mixture of potter’s clay and iron, that signifies a divided kingdom; but it will possess some of the unyielding strength of iron. Even so, you saw the iron mixed with earthy clayso that the toes were made from a mixture of iron and clay. Part of the kingdom will be mighty, but part of it will be fragile.Just as you saw the iron mixed with earthy clay, they will join together by intermarrying, but they will not bond to each other, just as iron does not fuse with clay.

“But in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will be indestructible. Its rule will never pass to another people. It will shatter other kingdoms. It will put an end to all of them. It will stand firm forever, just like you saw when the stone, which was cut from the mountain, but not by hands, shattered the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. A great God has revealed to the king what will happen in the future. The dream is certain. Its meaning can be trusted.”

The Prophet Daniel, by Brazilian sculptor Aleijadinho (1738-1814)

Then King Nebuchadnezzar bowed low and honored Daniel. The king ordered that grain and incense offerings be made to Daniel. The king declared to Daniel, “No doubt about it: your God is God of gods, Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries because you were able to reveal this mystery!” Then the king exalted Daniel and lavished gifts on him, making him ruler over all the province of Babylon and chief minister over all Babylon’s sages. At Daniel’s urging, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to administer the province of Babylon, but Daniel himself remained at the royal court. (Common English Bible)

That was a close one. All the wise men of Babylon, along with Daniel and his three companions, were nearly snuffed out by the rage of a powerful king. Good thing God is the One who is really in charge of things!

King Nebuchadnezzar demanded that his court sages tell him the troubling dream he had, along with an interpretation. Daniel alone was able to provide both the dream’s content and its meaning, precisely because he immediately went to prayer and beseeched God to reveal the mystery. A lot of lives were on the line. And God answered him.

Daniel calmly and confidently handled the life-or-death situation with some deft wisdom. There are likely two reasons for his ability to step into a situation fraught with such heavy stress: 1) he was already a consistent person of prayer; and, 2) he was truly doing this for the benefit of everyone, not just himself. In other words, Daniel was humble, full of faith, and concerned for the common good of all.

It’s interesting to me that Daniel didn’t get all caught up in the specifics of the dream. What was most important to him was communicating to the king that it was the Lord who provided the dream and its interpretation; and doing his very best to ensure something like this wasn’t going to happen again.

After being made the acting ruler over the province of Babylon, Daniel’s first act was encouraging the king to put his three companions in charge of the province. Daniel himself remained at the royal court, close to King Nebuchadnezzar. Not only was Daniel wise in how he handled the potential debacle, but he was also quite wise in discerning that he was needed courtside. I picture Daniel becoming something of Nebuchadnezzar’s handler – maintaining a significant position in order to check the ego and the arrogance of the king.

What stands out to me most about today’s story is not the particulars about ancient history, with the empires coming and going. It’s about Daniel doing what needed to be done, being willing to step into a stress-filled situation and take it on. Then, when things settled down and he was recognized and awarded, Daniel didn’t get caught up in the hoopla near as much as diligently worked behind the scenes for stability in the royal court. Such humility is worth emulating, and is much needed in today’s world.

Gracious God, have mercy on me. As the day unfolds, please grant me humility, kindness, and courage to move toward the situations you have in front of me. Bring glory to yourself, gentleness to my heart, and a good and just outcome. Amen.