We always seem to have something going on. And it’s always going on at ninety miles per hour. A day’s work can have us feeling like we’re in the middle of a tornado, and even when we get home, the wind picks back up. Simply put, we’ve got a million things to do, and what feels like a minute to do it. Or we’ve got a million things on our minds, and we may as well forget processing them. This is called being overwhelmed. Then, as the knot in our throats tightens, the Lord sits at our kitchen table and says, “Daughter, come sit with me.”
Let’s turn to Psalms today.
Can I be vulnerable for a minute? I tend to get overwhelmed easily. To the point where I’m self-conscious about it. I do love people, but when there are too many of us around and we’re all talking at the same time in a small space, I do tend to lose my cool. That being said, if someone tries to comfort me, I feel guilty. Like I’m burdening them when I am not. I know several of us can relate to that.
We can also approach God the same way.
I used to view myself as a businesswoman who spilled coffee all over herself in the car and forgot the very important files for the very important meeting for which she is now five minutes late. This businesswoman looks at her boss, who is glowing red with both fury and impatience. That was when God looked at me and said, “I am a much better boss, and I can handle it.” He wasn’t being passive aggressive. He was saying, “I see that you’re about to freak out, and I am not afraid of that.” All that goes to say this: God can handle that meltdown, so have it on Him. Yes, God is our Father who disciplines His children, and He is the ultimate judge, the alpha and omega. He is also our comforter who doesn’t need words to understand that there is a lot going on and you do not currently have the bandwidth to talk about it. And He won’t be mad at you for that.
The Lord not only can handle us in those moments, but can also deliver us from them. Psalms 61:1-2 TPT says “O God, hear my prayer. Listen to my heart’s cry. For no matter where I am, even when I’m far from home, I will cry out to you for a father’s help. When I’m feeble and overwhelmed by life, guide me into your glory, where I am safe and sheltered.” How beautiful those words are! Even more so, Psalm 91:4 NIV tells us, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” At those very important meetings, He keeps us under His glory, under His wings. And afterward, He has a fresh change of clothes and peace that doesn’t depend on how the meeting went.
This is an aside, but have you noticed that God doesn’t rush us? What I mean by that is that He’s not sitting there with His wing out and telling us “hey, I’ve got more than several people waiting in line behind you, so get it together.” We’ve all been in situations where we have to calm down quickly. God has given us the strength to pull ourselves together and fast, but when we actually sit down with Him and let Him in, He gives us all the time we need to let go, to process, to really just let it out. This goes to say that we have to give Him all the time He needs to comfort, to restore, to provide. We can’t rush that time because we may be weary of looking
less than perfect in front of God. In fact, in front of God is the perfect place to look less than perfect.
The thing about being under the Lord’s wing is that He shelters us in such a way that we stop focusing on the overwhelm and start focusing on the overhead. We don’t hear the PowerPoint presentations or the twenty-five voices that are all talking over each other. We hear His breath and loving words over us. We see the intricacies in the shadows of His wing, feel the tender brush of its feathers against our faces. Then we’re not overwhelmed anymore. We’re resting, sniffing our noses and wiping those last tears as they fall. We’ll probably get overwhelmed again at some point, but time and time again, He will simply have a seat at the table and say, “Daughter, come sit with me.”
MEET THE AUTHOR: