Two Reactions to Stress in Life: Late Saul or Early David

​I have a news flash for everyone concerning 2018; there will be stress in your life this new year. I say this in jest, but the start of a new year can be great time not to make a resolution as much as a decision in your heart and mind to decide how you will react when stressful times hit your life. Distractions in life can come in all forms from family issues, to your personal health, your job and your finances. I was looking at the Bible this past week and noticed two distinct reactions to stress that we need to identify and recognize to make 2018 the most impactful year yet.

King Saul, by the end of his reign, was a “reactor” when struggles hit in life. Meaning that his first reaction was his emotions and what he was feeling at the time making him lash out. His first reaction was to be number one and no one or nothing would stand in his way. Look at his interactions with David and being so jealous of him that he wanted to kill him and made attempts on his life TWELVE times in the book of 1 Samuel.

The example of King Saul is a lesson in focus and what we make a priority in life. Those things will guide and direct everything else we do including how we react to pain in life. We need to always remember that King Saul did not start out how he ended and that each one of us can be sucked into to error of considering ourselves and our position the most important thing in life instead of the priority of Christ in us.

The other example of dealing with adversity and pain in life is young David. When you see the different situations he ended up in, his first reaction was actually an ACTION based on his relationship to God. Remember that David was the youngest son of Jesse who tended sheep and spent time with God. He was more concerned with what God thought about him than anything else in his life and his reactions to trying times in his life proved that point.

Spending time with God is not about religious duty or some kind of “point scoring system” with heaven. It is the only way we can keep our hearts pliable and ready to act on the painful things that will come this new year. Spending time with God doesn’t look the same to each person either. For some, it is listening to worship music and for others it can be reading the Bible and others it can be praying on a walk in the woods. The KEY is that it has two components; it is focused on Jesus and that it is intentional.

We each have an amazing opportunity to make this the best year of our lives not because of the things that happen TO us but because of the things that can happen IN us when we give God priority and consider others more than ourselves. Don’t make a resolution make a simple decision to give God priority in your life and then act on it!

Have a great new year and praying for God to reveal himself in a new way to you this new year.