Today we'll continue our sermon series on "The Bible and Emotional Problems" on stress. According to Gallup Poll 2018, America is the 7th most stressed population globally after Greece, the Philippines, Tanzania, Albania, Iran, and Sri Lanka. Stress is responsible for more than half of the 550 million workdays lost annually because of absenteeism. An estimated 1 million workers are absent on an average workday because of stress-related complaints.
This is a "Stress Statistics for 2021": (https://medalerthelp.org/blog/stress-statistics/)
1. 80% of millennials are stressed about money.
2. 83% of Americans are worried about the future of the nation.
3. Nearly 25% of people report feeling extreme stress during the holidays.
4. 45% of college students seek counseling due to stress.
5. Around 70% of students are often or always stressed about schoolwork.
Understanding Stress
Stress is a normal human reaction that happens to everyone. The human body is designed to experience stress and react to it. When we experience changes or challenges (stressors), our bodies produce physical and mental responses to new situations.
Stress affects everyone. Everyone experiences stress from time to time. There are different types of stress—all of which carry physical and mental health risks. Physical symptoms of stress include aches and pains, chest pain or a feeling like racing heart, exhaustion or trouble sleeping, headaches, dizziness, shaking, high blood pressure, muscle tension or jaw clenching, stomach or digestive problems, difficulty having sex, and weak immune system. Stress can lead to emotional and mental symptoms like anxiety or irritability, depression, panic attacks, and sadness.
A stressor may be a one-time or short-term occurrence, or it can repeatedly happen over a long time. Some people may cope with stress more effectively and recover from stressful events more quickly than others.
Examples of stress include:
• Routine stress related to the pressures of school, work, family, and other daily responsibilities.
• Stress brought about by a sudden negative change, such as losing a job, divorce, or illness.
• Traumatic stress experienced during an event such as a major accident, war, assault, or natural disaster where people may be in danger of being seriously hurt or killed. People who experience traumatic stress may have very distressing temporary emotional and physical symptoms, but most recover naturally soon after.
Not All Stress Is Bad.
In daily life, we often use the term "stress" to describe negative situations, which leads many people to believe that all stress is bad for you, which is not valid. In the 1970s, an endocrinologist named Hans Selye created the term "eustress," a combination of two Greek words "eu" means "good" and "stress." Eustress, therefore, literally means "good stress," which is different from bad stress or "distress."
Eustress vs. Distress
The main difference between eustress and distress is the amount of personal control over a stressor. Distress occurs when a stressor cannot be resolved through coping mechanisms or adaptations. Eustress typically enhances one's functioning and may include responding to stressors with feelings such as:
• Increased meaning and hope
• Vigor and determination
• Excitement and anticipation
• Improved life satisfaction and well-being
• Resilience
On the other hand, when someone experiences a distressing event, it usually interferes with their ability to accomplish a job or task and quality of life.
The Bible and Stress
Does the Bible say anything about stress? In the original language of the Bible, we do not find the word "stress." The term "stress' as an emotional problem was created by Hans Selye in 1936, who defined it as "the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change." However, some modern English Bible translations use it. For example, New English Translation (NET) translated 1 Sam 1:15 as follows: "But Hannah replied, "That's not the way it is, my Lord! I am under a great deal of stress. I have drunk neither wine nor beer. Rather, I have poured out my soul to the Lord." KJV, ASV, DARBY: "I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit." ESV: "I am a woman troubled in spirit." CEB: "I'm just a very sad woman." MSG: "I'm a woman brokenhearted." NIV: "I am a woman who is deeply troubled."
I don't think the NET translation is wrong because Hannah is going through a lot of mental stress due to her barrenness and Peninnah's taunts. Verse 6 tells us, "And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb."
NET and AMP also use the word "stress" in other verses. For example, Eccles 11:10 – "Banish emotional stress from your mind. and put away pain from your body; for youth and the prime of life are fleeting." (NET); 1 Thess 3:7 – "for this reason, brothers and sisters, during all our distress and suffering we have been comforted and greatly encouraged about you because of your faith [your unwavering trust in God—placing yourselves completely in His loving hands." (AMP); 2 Tim 3:1 – "But understand this, that in the last days dangerous times [of great stress and trouble] will come [difficult days that will be hard to bear." (AMP)
Even though the original Old and New Testaments do not explicitly mention "stress," some verses show that the authors dealt with it. For example, in Psalm 42:5,6,11, David said, "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore, I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. … Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." Again, in Psalm 43:5, he said, "Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." In Psalm 118:5-6 – "When hard pressed, I cried to the LORD; he brought me into a spacious place." Psalm 119:143 – "Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands give me delight." Isaiah 40:31 "but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
Those verses show that God understands our situation that, like Hannah, King David, Apostle Paul, we sometimes are under a great deal of stress. Sometimes the stress comes from inside, like worry or fear, rather than outside.
These are factors that can lead to stress: 1) Job 2) Relationships 3) Finances 4) Health 5) Parenting 6) Anxiety 7) Life changes 8) Pressure to perform 9) Personal beliefs 10) Expectations 11) Noise 12) Perception 13) Violence 14) Traumatic events 15) Long-term stress can harm your health.
More than that, the Bible also shows how to deal with our stress. Sadly, some people with chronic stress try to manage it with unhealthy behaviors, including drinking alcohol too much or too often, gambling, participating compulsively in sex, shopping or internet browsing, smoking, using drugs, or overeating. Those behaviors cause more stress. By the way, why it's only natural that stressed-out people eat more desserts? Because "stressed" spelled backward is "desserts."
The Bible often tells us to come to God and bring our burden to Him. Whatever burdening us, like Hannah, we can get our stress to God, pouring our hearts and asking for His help. Imagine if Hannah kept her burden by herself. She probably would have had a mental breakdown and became hopeless. Praise God, she went to the house of the Lord and poured out her heart to God, weeping before Him and asking for help. King David also did the same thing. Whenever his soul was downcast, he came to God, remembered His faithfulness and power to help him. We see how Hannah and David found relief in God. God heard their cries and helped them.
Today Jesus invites us to come to Him. He says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Let's come to Him! You don't need to carry your burden alone. Even though your burden is not heavy, it will become heavy if you keep holding it like what I do with this dumbbell. It is only 2.5 pounds, so it is very light for me. But if I carry it for one hour, let alone one day, my arm will be very sore. Imagine if you carry 25 or 100 pounds of dumbbell/burden. Next Sunday, we will continue with how to manage our stress. May God lift our burden so that we can find rest and peace in Christ Jesus. Amen!
