How to Manage Stress with God’s Help

It is something you see wherever you look: your immediate network of friends and colleagues and most certainly on social media – people trying to manage stress by working more. This faulty logic may be that work equals money, and because money is inversely proportional to stress the more money you have, the less stress you have as a result.

Is this true? If people could expertly manage stress through more work, then why would God designate a whole day every week to rest and worship? Well, let us start by taking a look at what it is to remember the sabbath, and then how this relates to managing stress.

Manage stress through obedience to God

Remembering the Sabbath is a command from God. It is not just a good idea that we should seriously consider. It is a direct instruction from the one who designed and knit together each one of us so that we would live in line with how we were designed.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. – Exodus 20:8-11, NIV

For a refresher on the type of work God undertook in those first days, open up your Bible to the first page of Genesis. Like himself, God has given us the ability to be creative and work hard, and as people who belong to him, God expects us to obey Him (Acts 5:32) and identify ourselves as followers by obeying his instructions (Exodus 31:13-17).

What is also clear is that the Sabbath has been celebrated from the dawn of time and we are called to obey the Lord by keeping the Sabbath and resting for one day each week. Our weekly Sabbath rest contains echoes of a time when there will be perfect peace on earth, with no stress.

In Hebrews 3-4 the author reminds us that God equated being delivered from slavery in Egypt and entering the promised land, to entering his “rest.” “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.” (Hebrews 4:8-10, NIV). The day of rest that God has contextualized and commanded us to observe serves as our regular reminder of the coming rest that the Kingdom of God will bring us.

Do not be tempted to think that because the word Sabbath is a Jewish word that it does not apply to all of mankind. Mark 2:27-28 (NIV) quotes the words of Jesus: “Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Jesus knows that everyone should enjoy the blessing of keeping the Sabbath day holy.

How does remembering the Sabbath help manage stress?

Think of what happens in our thought life, or more subconsciously through our actions, when we get exceptionally busy and stressed. We may think to ourselves “When I have completed all the important tasks (and made enough money) then I will be able to manage stress. Then I will be able to schedule time for God and the people that I love.”

Yet, our understanding of the Sabbath challenges this. By keeping one day a week holy and devoted to the Lord, it will be an act of us trusting God to provide for us, rather than our ability to independently provide for ourselves.

Are you thinking, “Okay, so what would happen were I to rest for a day, I am not able to complete the work I have in time? What will happen then?” This is a good question and one that we all likely need to take to the Lord at different stages of our lives.

Around this time it is important to remember the context of Hebrews 4 when the author explains that our ultimate Sabbath rest is in heaven. It refers to the time when the great Israelite leader Joshua led the nation into the Promised Land after being delivered from slavery in Egypt.

When they were slaves, they were relentlessly made to work under severe conditions. They were not in a place of rest in a land where they could serve God freely. We can only assume that some would have known the freedom of being in a relationship with God, but they did not have the freedom to take a day off to worship.

The Israelites then were looking forward to their future redemption. Today we look back at Christ’s redemption of our lives and relationship with God through his work accomplished at the cross. Israelites of long ago anticipated God’s redemptive work, while today Christians know it in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ and the victory He won on the cross.

So, when considering the burden of your work and how to prioritize your time in a way that honors God, reflect on the fact that we have been set free from slavery to sin: “For freedom, Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Romans 6:5-6, NIV)

And as those free from the sin of trusting in our own understanding, we can trust in the Lord to make our way straight as we submit to him (Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV). Respecting the Sabbath shows that we trust the Lord, and not our own abilities and accomplishments, to bring sense and logic to our lives. Our default is to try and be “self-made” and independently achieve success through accumulating wealth, influence, popularity, and many other empty accomplishments.

Trust God more than yourself, and rest in who He is

If we are to trust that the Lord is our Heavenly Father and that He is holy and righteous, then we should trust too that he is the one who provides for us, who gives us our daily bread (Matthew 6:9-13). In the Bible, God is called by several names all of which reflect some aspect of His character. Getting to know God better will help you in managing your stress because you will be able to understand his love and care for you.

In discussing our motivations to work instead of remembering the Sabbath we have looked at God as our provider. In Genesis 22:2, Abraham names the place where the ram is caught in the thicket Jehovah-Jireh, or “The Lord Will Provide.”

The word “provide” in Hebrew also means “see to it”. This name is very close to the name Hagar calls God in Genesis 16:13 “The God who Sees.” That story is similarly heart-breaking as Genesis 22:2. The word “Jireh” has another meaning, and that is “perceive” and “experience.”

So, by the name Jehovah-Jireh, Abraham isn’t simply declaring that God provides stuff, rather he is saying that “God sees and knows all the need of mine, and He makes provision for it.” It is a personal revelation of God’s character.

Actively manage stress by knowing God better

One way to manage stress is to come to know God and His character through a better understanding of His names. By studying them, and drawing nearer to God, you will find more reason to trust him more than yourself, and also find more ways to recognize and hand your anxiety over to the God who not only provides (Jehovah Jireh) and sees you (El Roi), but is our peace (Jehovah Shalom), our healer (Jehovah Rapha), our righteousness (Jehovah Tsidkenu), our banner (Jehovah Nissi), and here with us (Jehovah Shammah).

• Jehovah Jireh: The LORD our provider (Genesis 22:14)
• Jehovah Rapha: The LORD our Healer (Exodus 15:26)
• Jehovah Nissi: The LORD our Banner (Exodus 17:15)
• Jehovah Shalom: The LORD our Peace (Judges 6:24)
• Jehovah Raah: The LORD our Shepherd (Psalms 23:1)
• Jehovah Tsidkenu: The LORD our Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6)
• Jehovah Shammah: The LORD is Here (Ezekiel 48:35).

Taking a good, slow study of God’s names as a way to come to know and rely on Him more is exceptionally beneficial in managing stress.

Christian counseling for stress management

If you’re looking for additional help in managing stress beyond this article, please browse our online counselor directory or contact our office to schedule an appointment. We would be honored to walk with you toward a place of healing and hope.