Overwhelmed

I have to admit that over the past couple of weeks I’ve had to fight really hard to keep hopelessness at bay – some days I wasn’t successful. It just seems like there is a whole lot of bad things happening in our world lately – political unrest, earthquakes, hurricanes, violence, hatred, sickness, death…. I was even telling my husband that if every conflict, disaster, personal/public problem in our world was to be displayed as a fire, most of our world would look like it was burning!

Watching/reading the news has become a dreaded affair. It’s a never-ending buffet of bad news – even on social media you’re not shielded from it. In my beloved Kenya, insults are being traded left right and center based on someone’s tribe and which political candidate one is supporting. I’ve been avoiding scrolling through my Facebook timeline as I’m pained to see some brothers and sisters from the same country treating each other with such hatred.

This past Sunday I went to church in low spirits; overwhelmed with grief for our world; feeling as though the enemy was winning the fight. Was there even a point to pray? But as we sung songs of worship, something caught my attention. Every single song spoke of God’s POWER and MIGHT. I sobbed in gratitude! God is His mercy and grace knew that I, and likely many others in the congregation, needed to be reminded that God is powerful and mighty; that He is still sovereign – nothing and no one can stand against Him! He is still in control and will never give us more than we can handle.

My problem over the last few weeks is that I doubted in the darkness what God told me in the light. I let the “noise” of the bad stuff drown out my knowledge and confidence in God’s power and sovereignty. But when we sung words like ‘God’s light overwhelms the darkness’; ‘His kingdom cannot be shaken’; ‘Mountains bow down at the sound of (Jesus) name’; ‘He calms the raging seas’; ‘There’s freedom from the chains that bind us’; ‘The enemy is defeated in Jesus name’ …, new hope surged up within me. We do not serve a powerless God but one greater than all the evil in our world. He may not be as loud as the enemy; but His quiet strength should not be undermined nor mistaken for weakness.

What I went through these past couple of weeks was akin to the story of Peter. As long as his eyes were on Jesus, he was able to walk on water. But the moment he fixed his gaze on the surrounding waves and strong winds, he was overwhelmed by fear and begun to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.  Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him and said to him “You have so little faith. Why did you doubt me?” (Matthew 14:22-33) I believe that in the midst of all that is going on world-over, God is saying the same thing to us: ‘Don’t doubt Me; have faith in Me. I am still the God who will never leave nor forsake you. In this world you will have tribulations, but fear not because I have overcome the world (John 16:33)’.

If you have been feeling drained and overwhelmed by all the sad things happening in our world, I would encourage you to focus less on the magnitude of the problems, but reflect more on who God is. He is still seated on the highest throne. He is still sovereign. The waves and winds still know His name. Power and might are in His hand and no one can withstand Him (2 Chronicles 20:6).

Also a reminder to me and us… when we bring our burdens to Jesus in prayer, we should leave them in His capable hands and not continue carrying them in our hearts and minds. Doing so robs us of our joy and peace. Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken (Psalm 55:22).

PS, I wrote a blog in the past- regarding seeing things from God’s perspective – that addresses the very thing I was struggling with. How quickly I had forgotten! (Truly goes to show that the faith walk is a daily walk; we have to constantly be on guard against that which threatens to steal our peace or set us back). Needless to say, I re-read the blog and God restored my hope even more. Our ‘ginormous’ is His ‘miniscule’. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/2vti25N

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