Seasons of overwhelm: When all you can do is cling to Jesus

(Proofread by Aneah Epshteyn)

While preparing to present to a women’s group on discipleship, I couldn’t shake the feeling that some of the ladies in attendance had landed in a state of overwhelm. Reflecting upon how my message might hit them, I thought of how I felt during what I’ve since termed as my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year (and a half). In that season, I frequently felt conflicted between all the “I should” filling my brain and weighing down my heart, and God’s gentle Spirit calling me to find shelter in Himself.

In faith communities, we hear a lot about serving Jesus, and rightly so. That is why we’re here, and He is worthy of whole life worship. But how does this apply when we begin to feel crushed by the weight of our circumstances?

In those seasons, God might ask us to persevere with the grit and strength only He can provide. This was the example the apostle Paul set. When beaten and left for dead, he got up and resumed his mission. While imprisoned, he wrote letters to the church that became sacred pages in our Bible. Yet, I’m also reminded of the night when he and his ministry partner, Silas, cried out to God in weakness and desperation.

Granted, this is how I read the story as I consider the circumstances and his humanity. Acts 16 tells us about a time when Paul miraculously freed a demonized slave, whose previous “divination” earned considerable money for her masters. As you can imagine, her owners weren’t pleased to lose their income source. Angered, they dragged Paul and Silas into the marketplace and before the magistrates who beat the men with rods.

Following, we read:

After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks (Acts 16:23-24, NIV).

First, notice, these men landed in prison because of their obedience. For those of us in a western context where cultural notions of success and prosperity have seeped into the church, it’s important to remember that hardship comes to the faithful and unfaithful alike. Difficulties doesn’t mean we’ve “lost God’s favor” anymore than blessings mean we’ve gained it. The Bible tells us that all who believe in Christ have been “lavished” with “grace upon grace” and “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 1:8, John 1:16, Eph. 1:3).    

In each season, the most challenging or joyous, God’s greatest desire is that we turn to Him, listen for His guidance, and follow however He leads. For some, that might mean serving Him in our pain. The Lord might call others to demonstrate what it looks like to lean hard on the One who remains with us in our suffering and upholds our weary and broken souls with His mighty right hand.

This was the God Paul and Silas revealed in Acts 16—not through their eloquent words, but rather their anguish. Or more accurately, through how they responded in their anguish.

In verse 25, we read:

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them (NIV).

To understand their impact, we must first grasp the reality of their situation. This “prison” was nothing like our climate controlled environments with beds and three meals a day. The authorities placed Paul and Silas, who’d been “severely flogged” in stocks, in the deepest, darkest section of a maritime dungeon—a place prisoners were often left to die.

How did they respond? By crying out to God. I believe their singing came from their need to connect, deeply, with the heart of Christ and to receive His strength in their time of extreme weakness.

They sought the One greater than their circumstances.

What if our world is most impacted not by “superhero” Christians who loudly proclaim “superhero” faith but rather weak and needy people, like you and I, who lean hard on a an their all-powerful God? Like Paul and Silas did when they landed in an earthly “hell.”

In their moment of overwhelm, they turned to, and depended upon, the Lord, and in doing so, they brought light and life into a place that quite literally smelled like death.

If you’re familiar with this event, you might remember how God responded. He caused a violent earthquake to shake the prison’s foundations, burst open the doors, and shattered the prisoners’ chains. This resulted in salvation for the prison guard and his family, and likely many of those previously bound as well.

Here’s my point: If all you can do, in your current season, is to cry out and cling to God, that is enough. Your very dependence on Him in your time of overwhelm loudly proclaims the gospel and the tender, ever-present love of Christ.

I’ll end with the question I left the sweet women in Louisiana: How are you pursuing God in your current season?

What is He asking you to do?

Will you trust Him to lead, whether that means persevering through the wilderness, trudging up a steep incline, or resting in His presence?

If you’re comfortable sharing, let us know in the comments so that others might gain encouragement from your journey.  

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