Overwhelmed

 

“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

—Matthew 26:38

Looking in several dictionaries, I discovered that, traditionally, writers have used the words “whelmed” and “overwhelmed” interchangeably. It doesn’t surprise me that these words began as nautical terms. They describe a boat caught in the precarious position of filling with water, even capsizing. In the Bible, references to seafaring-related activities are nearly as popular as references to agricultural illustrations.

Many of you will recall the words found in the hymn, “The Solid Rock,” written by Edward Mote. ¹

His oath, His covenant, His blood
support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

Refrain: On Christ the solid rock, I stand;
             all other ground is sinking sand;
             all other ground is sinking sand.

The idea for those words in that hymn come from this verse found in Psalm 61:2:

When my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

As I read Psalm 65:3, I was struck by the use of the same word—overwhelmed—when David described the sense of overpowering sadness he felt whenever he considered sin:

When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions.

In both cases, the one involving extreme emotional need and the one involving deep sin, we need that Rock that is higher than the extremity of our sinking position. Only the Rock—Jesus—can restore our equilibrium.

In his expositional commentary on the Psalms, the late Dr. James Montgomery Boice shares the following story from the life of the great preacher from the 10th century, Charles Haddon Spurgeon: ²

Ships often ran upon the rocks off the coast of England, and mariners were cast in the water and drowned. At times, the mariners would find themselves struggling at the base of high cliffs, knowing they would be safe if they could only get up the steep slippery face of the rocks. But they could not. At one place, according to Spurgeon, a man who lived at the top of one of these cliffs carved stone steps into the rock face so wrecked mariners could climb up. And when the steps became badly worn and impassable over time, someone else added stanchions and a chain railing to help the struggling survivors.

In like manner, God has provided us with the way to overcome our own weaknesses through the Rock of Christ. In our times of need, the Holy Spirit will lead us to Christ, so we can call out to Him for help.

Again, as I read the verse in Mark 9:15, I came upon this word “overwhelmed.” Here the word is used to describe the throngs of people who met Jesus when He and His disciples came down the mountain from the Transfiguration:

As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

What an amazing way to be overwhelmed! Perhaps we need to exchange our sense of overwhelming need with the sense of His overwhelming wonder. When we meditate on God’s “wonder-full” provision for us in Christ, we realize that, in the drowning circumstances of our lives, Jesus can truly supply everything we need.

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1 Mote, Edward. “The Solid Rock.” A hymn in the Public Domain. Though this citation is noted to be in the Public Domain, in the case of someone claiming Copyright protection of this material, please note that, in each case, whenever a citation of any Copyrighted material is made within a post on this blog, such a citation is made strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

2 Boice, James Montgomery. Psalms: An Expositional Commentary – Volume 2. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1998. p. 504. Please note that, in each case, whenever a citation of any Copyrighted material is made within a post on this blog, such a citation is made strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

 

The Exchange

 

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to … provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

—Isaiah 61:1, 3

We all remember the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” ¹ which began with Jack going to market for his mother to sell their old cow that no longer gave milk. On the way, Jack met a man who sweet-talked him into trading the cow for five “magic beans.” And, you likely remember how that opened Jack up to a whole lot of trouble, including being chased by a giant.

Now, not all of the exchanges we make in our lives end up quite the way that one did. But, as Christians, we have actually entered into an agreement with God that will forever result in an unequal exchange. Ephesians 2:4 explains:

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.

So, the very first unequal exchange God has made with us involves Him giving us life for death. If we look truthfully at ourselves, we must say that God has given us everything in exchange for our nothingness. Scripture tells us that we have nothing to offer Him in payment for our sins and in exchange for our new life, except the gift of ourselves.

As we grow in God’s grace, we realize that God wants to give us:

• His strength in exchange for our weakness
  
  
• His infinite knowledge in exchange for our confusion
  
  
• His clear vision in exchange for our blindness
  
  
• His health in exchange for our hurts
  
  
• His answers in exchange for our questions
  
  
• His power in exchange for our powerlessness
  
  

In the verse quoted at the beginning of this blog post, we see that God wants to give us joy for our mourning and a garment of praise for a heaviness we can’t take off ourselves. Christ has taken our rags of sinfulness from us, in exchange for His robe of righteousness. He has exchanged our life of futility for a new life of usefulness and for an eternal future with Him. What a terribly lopsided exchange!

When we pray, we should allow ourselves to picture two columns: the first with all our needs, and the second with everything that God can provide us in exchange. May this exercise cause us to thank Him for all He has to give us and exclaim, with the Psalmist, the words in Psalm 103:2:

Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

 

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1 The story—“Jack and the Beanstalk,” originating from the 19th century—with versions by Benjamin Tabart in 1807 and by Joseph Jacobs in 1890—is in the Public Domain. Though this citation is noted to be in the Public Domain, in the case of someone claiming Copyright protection of this material, please note that, in each case, whenever a citation of any Copyrighted material is made within a post on this blog, such a citation is made strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

 

Frail

 

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

—2 Corinthians 4:7

She knocked at my classroom door and stood waiting with her mom and older sister. I was overjoyed to see Joanna. Her loving nature had once made her one of my favorite students in the two years that I had known her. But then, her family had suddenly decided to go back to Puerto Rico, and I thought I’d never see her again.

Now she had traveled back for a visit, and wanted to thank me for teaching her. She gave me a tiny pitcher, hand made out of clay, and decorated with a pretty floral design and the words “Puerto Rico.”

How thoughtful of her to remember me and bring me this tiny reminder of her. Every time I look at it, it reminds me of more than Joanna. It reminds me that when I seem as frail as that little pitcher, Christ can show His power within me. Many times I have felt hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, struck down. This little clay pitcher reminds me that even in my frailty, I have the treasure of the glory of God in my life.

Let me remind and encourage each one of us. Whenever our backs and legs ache, our nerves fray, we’ve had sleepless nights, and we have more to do than we can possible handle, let us remember the testimony that the Apostle Paul gives us in this Scripture verse from 2 Corinthians 12:10:

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Yes! Through our times of weakness, God wants to pour out a great blessing on us, and in so doing, reveal His all-surpassing power.

 

 

Sufficent

 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

—2 Corinthians 12:9a

Have you ever felt so weak in the face of trouble—physically, emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually—that you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that you couldn’t handle the situation in front of you? I have. And, I think God brings us through such times, maybe frequently. Yes, all of us, whom He intends to sanctify for His purposes, He brings through such times.

Young and inexperienced believers often think of themselves as capable of doing, in their own power, anything the Lord asks of them. Confident in their own physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual strength and capabilities, they sometimes look trouble in the eye with confident presumption, and think they are exercising faith.

“I presume my parents will get me out of any financial jam I can’t deal with.” Or: “I presume the medicine will take care of the problem.” Or: “I presume my talents and gifts will get me through tight spots at work.”

It usually only takes a few times, when these presumptions are proven wrong, that we begin to realize how insufficient we are to handle the things that assail our lives. And, what does God hope to accomplish by allowing us to “swim without a life preserver,” or to get sick with a deadly disease? The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9b, after He made the statement in the Scripture that appears at the beginning of this blog post:

Therefore, [because God’s grace is sufficient] I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

He’s saying with a chuckle:

“Bring it on! I can’t handle this, but God, You can!”

Here’s what beloved preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, said about this verse: ¹

Our weakness should be prized as making room for divine strength. We might never have known the power of grace if we had not felt the weakness of nature … God’s grace is enough for me! I should think it is. Is not the sky enough for the bird, and the ocean enough for the fish? The All-Sufficient is sufficient for my largest want.

Similarly, Joni Eareckson Tada points out that God becomes what we need: 

In Isaiah 54 he becomes the Husband to the divorced woman. In Psalm 10 he becomes the Father of the orphaned. In Zechariah 2 he becomes the Wall of Fire to those who need protection. In Isaiah 62 he becomes the Bridegroom to the woman who grieves that she’ll never marry. In Exodus 15 he becomes the Healer to the sick. In Isaiah 9 he is the Wonderful Counselor to the confused and depressed. In John 4 he becomes the Living Water to the thirsty. In John 6 he’s the Bread of Life to those who are hungry for more than this world can give.

I suspect most of us will have the experience of weakness and insufficiency when facing trials of all sorts. God wants to show in us His strength and His sufficiency. Do we willingly face our troubles with a trust that allows Him to work His power through us?

Though we often learn slowly and painfully, He will patiently bring us to a place where He can trust us with such pain. Let us rejoice in His over-abiding presence, His over-abiding love, and His ability to prove His sufficiency in and through us.

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1 Spurgeon, Charles Haddon, Faith’s Checkbook. Chicago: Moody Press, 1980. Entry for November 8th.

2 Tada, Joni Eareckson, More Precious Than Silver. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998. Entry for August 30th.

Please note that, in each case, whenever the citation of any Copyrighted material is made within a post on this blog, such citation is made strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.