Stress is something that’ll always be part of our lives. It’s universal. It affects everyone. Managing stress is not like riding a bicycle where you master it and you’ll never have problems again. Because in life we encounter new problems and situations. We handle them well sometimes, sometimes badly. It affects our sleep, our diet, our work, our relationship and communication with others.

Two biblical approaches to stress management will be discussed - Elijah and Paul. We will see what lessons we can learn from them.

1 Kings 19
Elijah was facing a major stress in his life. He was running for his life because Jezebel wanted to kill him.

v2-4
What did Elijah do in response to the stress he was facing? He decided to run very very far away from his problem. He left his servant and isolated himself. He went into the wilderness, lay down under a tree and gave up on life.

In our lives, immense stress can take on many forms. The speaker went online to find out stressors Singaporeans face. They may look familiar but it covers different dimensions of stress.

Stressors:

1. Work/school
   A student was so stressed with school, it affected his relationship with other people and his outlook in life. Change ‘student’ to ‘adult’ and ‘school’ to ‘work’ and those working may be able to relate as well.

2. People around us
   People in our lives can stress us out e.g. the person in the office.

3. Family problems
   People feel stressed because of family fights. The home environment is very chaotic, even though the home is somewhere we’re supposed to relax.

4. Addiction/shameful habit
   Do we have any bad habits or addictions we have been fighting for a long time (perhaps even years)? This can cause a huge stress on our lives.

5. Overwhelming feelings
   A person may feel alone, tired, have a lot of negative thoughts and feel a lot of inner pain. That is a very big cause of stress.

What stressors do we face with in our lives, particularly major stressors?

Are we coping with them well? Or are we struggling with them? Sometimes we feel like Elijah. We feel the problem is so overwhelming, we just want to run away. We want to isolate ourselves. We don’t want people to be around us because maybe we think we’re a disappointment to them. We may even resort to negative behaviours to try to cope with our stress. We may even have negative thoughts like: wouldn’t it be better if my life ended?

These were the thoughts of Elijah. But God didn’t abandon him, God stayed with him. “The end of man’s way is the start of God’s way.”

God will provide a way for us, just like how He helped Elijah in 3 different aspects - physical, spiritual, mental.

1. Physical
   1 Kings 19:1-7
   How did God first help Elijah to overcome his stress? He provided him food and water, and allowed him to sleep to overcome his fatigue. This may be something simple but it’s actually something very important.

The physical aspect of stress management is looking after our bodies. Sometimes when stressed, we compromise on our meals. We may be too busy to eat; we lose appetite. Sometimes we can’t sleep because we have too many things to do or our minds think about too many things that we can’t sleep. If this happens over a long period of time, this’ll harm our bodies and minds. Studies show that people who’re more stressed are more likely to suffer from heart disease and stroke.

The first thing we need to do during stressful periods is to take care of our physical bodies. Don’t neglect your meals. Think of them as vitamins or fuels that help you to hang in there as you face your problems. Think of it as medicine. You don’t want to eat it but you know it’s good for you.

Find ways to sleep at night. Perhaps altering your environment to make it more conducive to sleep. Engage in behaviour that helps you prepare to sleep. Perhaps listen to relaxing music. Don’t do work before your sleep. Don’t stare at your devices before sleeping. Etc etc. Search online for advice or talk to someone you trust.

Another thing we can do is to exercise. Studies show that being in nature and exercise helps your body modulate itself. Your body releases hormones that makes you feel relieved, and you sweat out the toxins in your body. During vigorous exercise, we’re also very focused on the present. Recall the last time you ran 2.4km in school! Because you’re so focused on the present, you give your mind a break. Some people feel more clearheaded after a walk. Perhaps that might work for you too.

1 Kings 19:8
After God fed Elijah and let him rest, God let him walk for 40 days. That’s just like the aforementioned suggestion! God didn’t let him just sit there and ruminate and ruminate.

1 Tim 4:8
Bodily exercise has SOME profit. Let’s not neglect that. But what has even more profit? Having Christ in our minds. That’s very important, which aligns with the second dimension - spiritual.

1. Spiritual
   We continue reading Elijah’s story.
   1 Kings 19:8-9
   God instructed Elijah to go to Mount Horeb— the mountain of God. God knows and sympathises with our weaknesses. He knew Elijah was weak. He didn’t tell Elijah, “Okayyy now go back and face your problem.” He said, “Come to me. Draw near to me.” God gave Elijah guidance. Today, God beckons us to come to Him when we face big problems too. What does it mean to draw close to Him? One approach according to Matt 11:28-30: In v28, Jesus tells us to go to Him when we feel very burdened and weary. When we feel very stressed, here He promises to give us rest. But He doesn’t stop at v28, v29 tells us to bear Jesus’ cross. Why do we put down a burden just to carry another burden?

Drawing close to God requires effort. This could be in the form of physical efforts. Coming to church for service. Kneeling down to pray. Reading/listening to God’s word. Upholding the Christian principles in life can be effortful. This may seem counterintuitive. We’re so tired physically and mentally we ask God to give us chance. “I don’t come to church give chance la! I don’t read Bible and pray, you’ll understand. I keep committing this sin but You know I’m having a hard time right?”

He assures us His burden is easy and light. How does that work? Christ becomes the centre of our lives when we bear His cross. When we fixate on Him, the worries of the world go strangely dim. Somehow, somewhat, we find rest.

The peace Jesus gives that the world can never give. This peace may be different for each and everyone of us. For some, God solves our problem/stress. For some, perhaps it takes 10 years. For some, perhaps we need to live with it for the rest of our lives. But God promises us spiritual peace. Put our faith and trust in God. Believe in His good will.

His comfort may not come immediately. Elijah had to wait 40 days and nights before God spoke to Him. But in these 40 days, Elijah didn’t find another tree to lie under and complain to God. He had his faith, trust and hope in God renewed. That’s why he could still walk and journey in the wildness with all his problems despite God’s silence.

It could’ve been the memory that God provided for him. That memory became an anchor and reminded him: “God is real. He can and will help me.” This kind of thinking/hope can also apply to us.

Psa 77:10-15
The psalmist talks about his anguish, sorrow and distress. But amidst this, what is going through his mind?
v10 “I will remember the years of the Most High”
v11 “I will remember the works of the law. I will remember the wonders of old.”
He will remember what God has done for him in the past.
v13 He remembers how great our God is.
v14 How God does wonders and gives people strength.
v15 How He has saved His people before.

These past experiences help the psalmist to tide through his anguish.

For us today, have we had a past experience of God’s grace and mercy? How God has helped us or when we experienced God’s power? Have we ever get grateful and thankful for something God did for us? Have we experienced God? Let’s treasure these moments very dearly. Because these moments of God’s grace and mercy can be an anchor in our lowest.

God’s faithfulness endures forever. So keep walking towards God even in our distress, and we will hear a still, small voice.

1. Mental
   What are the thoughts that go through our mind whenever we encounter stress?

1 Kings 19:10
From Elijah’s words, we can infer that he was stressed and troubled over many things. Firstly he thought he had done all God told him to do. Secondly he thought surely that he would die by Jezebel’s hand. By extension, he thought that there was nothing left for him to do. Thirdly, he thought he was alone. But were his thoughts correct? No. God addressed all his thoughts.

God still had plans! God still had important things for him to do. Because of that, God wouldn’t let him die. And God told him he wasn’t alone; there were 7000 other people! And he wouldn’t be alone, he was to take Elisha as his disciple.

God’s response addressed the false beliefs Elijah had that caused him a lot of stress. If he had corrected it earlier, he wouldn’t have been so stressed.

“I won’t die. God will protect me. I’m not alone.”

As we face our stressors today, sometimes we might have unhealthy ways of thinking or incorrect beliefs. As a result, this will affect our feelings, decisions, actions, how we respond to things that happen and people around us.

In counselling, there’s a term called ‘cognitive distortion’ - negative, not very healthy thinking processes people have. These are things that might cross our minds. But we find ways to rationalise it and better ways to think about it. But for people who keep ruminating and thinking about the negative, it starts to affect them a lot. Some people’s mind start to filter the negative thoughts and only think about the negative things. For example, “My family and job only give me troubles. Nothing else.” Really? Have you forgotten the moments your children made you laugh/smile? Our minds have forgotten. Sometimes our minds make the situation much worse than it is. For example: “If I fail this project/don’t do it well enough, it’ll DEFINITELY affect my reputation/career. My colleagues will never trust me anymore.” We make things worse than it is.

Sometimes our minds also tend to overgeneralise things. When something bad happens to us, we think everything will go wrong. For example: “If I can’t even do such a simple thing, it must mean I’m a failure. I’ll fail in other things. If I can’t do this simple thing, how can I do other things?”

These are examples of cognitive distortions. Most people can control them and tell ourselves not to think about it. But it becomes a problem when people start to believe in them and fixate on them everyday. We need to look after the mental dimension whenever we face with stress. Let’s be a bit more attentive to our thought processes whenever we face with stress.

Prov 24:5-6
“A wise man is strong, Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength;
For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, And in a multitude of counsellors there is safety.“

Sometimes facing our problems and stressors is literally fighting a war. Here talks about wisdom/knowledge. If we have knowledge, it’ll increase our strength in battle. If we can view it in this way, having knowledge of what goes through our minds, it can either give or deplete our strength depending on what’s going through our minds. Sometimes it’s hard to scrutinise our thinking processes.

But thank God v6 says we don’t need to rely on ourselves! We can receive wise counsel! These are people we can trust. People we can turn to for help. Family members or close friends. Church members, church ministers. People you can trust to give you sound advice that don’t contradict the principles of the Bible.

Note the bodily, spiritual and mental aspect when managing stress.

The sermon will conclude using a passage written by Paul. It’s a good framework on how to manage stress from a biblical perspective.
Phil 4:6-13
v6 Seek God and draw close to Him through our prayers and actions.
Come with thanksgiving. Remember the good things God has done for you. It’ll be your source of strength even in the most difficult of times.

v8-9 Think positive thoughts, do positive actions.
Be careful of negative thought processes that can make us manage stress more poorly. Find positive ways and actions to cope with stress. Eat more (if you’re not eating HAHA don’t overeat that’s another problem). Sleep more. Physical activity helps. Other positive things to cope with stress can help too. Don’t do the negative things - addiction, things we know that’s not good in coping with our stress.

v10, 14 Find and turn to the right people for support.
Here Paul talks about other people who cared for him. In our lives, never ever think we’re alone. That itself is a cognitive distortion. “Nobody will care about me. Nobody will appreciate me.” Confirm there’s at least one person who will be willing to talk to you. Get their perspective.

v11-12 Acknowledge and accept your situation.
Accept whatever state we’re in. Don’t compare with people. Accept whatever situation you’re in at the moment. Let’s try not to run away from it. Let’s not become destructive and blame ourselves and other people. Let’s try to accept it and live with it in our lives at the moment, and think about how we can manage it on top of our responsibilities In life, we can still be content because remember there’re still positive things happening around you. Don’t be so fixated on the stress and negatives that we forget on the positives in life.

v13 Be humble and thankful - Christ gives you the power.
Remember it is Christ who strengthens us when we try to overcome our problems and stress. If we think it’s our own power and wisdom, we won’t draw close to God. We think God is somewhere afar off and He doesn’t help us.

v19
Our all loving God will supply all our need according to His riches.

In His time, and in your endurance and faith in Him.

Let us also ask God to preserve us in difficult times to come.