How to Handle Stress | Part 2

We'll be right back. Why do we get stressed? Well, we get stressed because we think our needs are not going to be met.

Welcome to Love Worth Finding featuring profound truth simply stated by acclaimed pastor and Bible teacher Adrian Rogers. When we go through stressful seasons of life, we often convince ourselves that we don't have time to be still and rest. Yet God has called His sheep to lie down in green pastures and to drink from the still waters. By His instruction, we can learn how to handle stress. If you have your Bible, turn to Psalm 23.

We'll be looking at verse two as Adrian Rogers concludes this powerful message. How to handle stress. Now, folks, I want to talk to you about how to handle stress. You know the reason why we're stressed?

I'll tell you why we're stressed. Because we like sheep. You know, Psalm 100 and verse three says we are the sheep of His pasture. That's how God describes us. We are the sheep of His pasture.

You say, isn't that wonderful? I'm a sheep. Well, folks, God wasn't necessarily trying to compliment us when He said we were like sheep. I mean, that's not really a compliment.

It's a description. Our sheep is an animal that just is not too smart. Well, you say, hey, I'm pretty smart.

As a matter of fact, I graduated the top of my class. You must understand what I'm saying. I'm talking now in spiritual realms. The Bible says there's none that understandeth, no, not one. In the spiritual realm, we like sheep, okay? Not only is a sheep dumb, but I'll tell you something else about a sheep. Our sheep is pretty defenseless. As a matter of fact, the Bible speaks of as a lamb headed toward the slaughter.

Just kind of defenseless. You think of sheep as needing someone to defend them. And, folks, that's the way we are.

That's the reason why the apostle Paul had to say to the Corinthians, our sufficiency is of God. That is, we don't have it in and of ourselves, but not only do you think of the defenselessness of a sheep and not only do you think of the ignorance of a sheep, but I'll tell you something else about a sheep. A sheep doesn't have a good sense of direction.

A sheep is easily lost. What does the Bible say in Isaiah chapter 53 verse 6? All we like sheep have done what? Gone astray. And what did God say about his people in Hosea chapter 11 and verse 7? My people, my people are bent to backsliding from me.

You know what that means in plain English? We have a tendency to get away from God. That's the sheep nature. And when you think about these things, when you think about the ignorance of a sheep and the weakness and the defenseless nature of a sheep, and when you think about the propensity to get lost, that's in a sheep. And then you think about the dependency of a sheep. A sheep needs somebody to take care of it. A sheep is so dependent. Now, Mr. Keller, who wrote a book about sheep, said that a sheep sometimes can become what we would call cast, C-A-S-T. That is, it rolls over sometimes on its back and can't get up. Its paws are all up in the air and it doesn't have enough athletic ability, it doesn't have enough dexterity just to roll over and get up.

And sometimes when lying down it just finds itself with its paws all up in the air and cannot get back on its feet. It's vulnerable to the vultures and to the wolves and so forth, but also the gases begin to build up on the inside and the sheep gets bloated and before long the circulation is cut off and the sheep that's called a cast sheep will die. I think that's what David had in mind when he said, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? We get in the cast position and the shepherd needs to come and pick the sheep up and put the sheep back on its feet. Has he ever done that for you?

I mean when you were down and couldn't get up and you couldn't get yourself up. Thank God for the shepherd. You see, listen folks, we're like sheep and because we're like sheep, that's why we have a tendency to be stressed. It's not necessarily a compliment to call us a sheep, but it's a fact. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

Now, having said that, how do you handle stress? Well I believe verse 2 has a lot to say about how to handle stress. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. My dear friend, I want to tell you that when you understand that you may be weak like a sheep, but you have a compassionate shepherd, a caring shepherd, and a courageous shepherd.

You see, the hireling flees. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. You see, in that same chapter in verse 7, John 10 verse 7, Jesus said, I am the door of the sheep. You say, is he the shepherd or is he the door?

The answer is yes. The shepherd becomes the door. I've seen these sheepfolds. The shepherd will build an enclosure out of stones about so high, just a big circle or a square. He brings all the sheep inside. That's the sheepfold.

He counts them all and makes certain that they're all secure. And then the shepherd has an opening about that wide where the sheep come in and out. And when he gets all the sheep in and all the sheep are counted, the shepherd will lie down right across that opening.

Nobody gets in and nobody gets out without him knowing it. The shepherd is the door. I am the door. And what Jesus is saying, there's nobody can get to you except you come through me. You like that? Brother, I like that. That's the reason he said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.

You see, folks, listen, what you need in order to deal with this stress is, number one, security. He maketh me. He leadeth me. I may be weak like a sheep, but he's the strong shepherd.

He's the good shepherd. That's the first thing I see in this verse is security. And that security helps me to deal with stress. I'll tell you what else I see.

Not only do I see security, but I see sufficiency. You see, look at it. He maketh me to lie down in brown withered pastures.

Is that it? He leads me beside muddy streams, dried up water brooks, oh no. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

He leadeth me beside the still waters. All I need and more I find in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, why do we get stressed? Well, we get stressed because we think our needs are not going to be met. And we just say, oh, my goodness, I'm not going to have what I need. You remember that passage over there in Matthew where our Lord is telling us not to worry? And he tells us, he says, what do people worry about? He said, well, he said, don't worry about what you're going to eat. That's food. And don't worry about what you're going to wear.

That's fashion. Don't worry about these things. Friends, fame, fortune, fashion, fitness. That's what people worry about. Jesus said after all these things do the Gentiles seek?

And we said Gentiles are meant to unsave people. He's not saying these things are not important. He didn't say any of those were not important.

But he said what? Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. All these things will be added to you. These things don't even take on significance until you have your deepest needs met. You see, what is he talking about when he's talking about green grass and still waters?

Do you think he's just talking about having your bank account full? Oh, no. Listen, Psalm 22, Psalm 23, and Psalm 24 are a trinity of Psalms. Now, go back to Psalm 22 and look in verse 26. The meek shall eat and be satisfied.

What shall they eat? Well, look in the rest of that verse. They shall praise the Lord that seek Him. Do you see that?

That's the food. They shall praise the Lord that seek Him. Look, if you will, in verse 29. All they that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship.

Do you see that? All that be fat. God wants healthy sheep. What does the green grass talk about? It's the green pasture of His Word. What do the still waters speak of? The still waters of His Spirit.

You're to find, my friend, your satisfaction in Him, and if you don't find your satisfaction in Him, you're going to be stressed, and I'll tell you why you're going to be stressed, because the deepest needs of your heart will never be met. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 4, verse 4? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, that the Bible is to you what bread is to the natural man. And then Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, verse 6, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled, hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Do you know what the word blessed means? Let me tell you what the word blessed means.

It's the Greek word makarios, and it literally means happy or satisfied, content, to be congratulated, a joyful. You can take many words and roll them all into one, and you have the idea of this word blessed. Now notice what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, verse 6, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. How many people do you know today that are hungering and thirsting after righteousness?

The green pastures of His Word, the still waters of His Spirit. How many people do you know that have a hunger for the Word and a thirst for the Spirit? How many? Well, not many. Now let me ask you another question. How many happy people do you know?

Not many. Now listen, what He said is this. He did not say blessed are those who seek after blessedness. Happy are those who seek after happiness. He said happy are those who seek after righteousness. Let me tell you something. The most unhappy people in the world are the people who are trying to be happy. Did you know that?

Proof positive. The next time you go on vacation and go to a resort, look on the faces of those people walking the streets. Generally, the most miserable faces you'll ever see are in resort places. The happiest faces are people who are working in a service station somewhere right at home or working in an office, just doing something. But people who seek to be happy generally are not.

It's a strange thing. Happiness is something you never find by looking for it. Happiness is something you stumble over on your way to serve Jesus. It's just when you're serving the Lord Jesus Christ, happiness is the byproduct of righteousness. Do you know what unhappiness comes from? Unhappiness comes from self-centeredness and sin. And God has engineered it that way.

God so loves you that God has engineered that you would not be happy without Jesus. That's the reason God said to Adam and Eve when they left the Garden of Eden, cursed is the ground for your sake. Not for your judgment, but for your sake. I put a curse on the ground. Thorns and thistles will it bring forth to you. Why? When you pick a rose, you say, ouch.

When you walk, you say, ooh, why? God wants your path to be thorny. God wants your roses to be thorny.

Why? The worst thing could ever happen to sinful man would be to have a diseased heart and live in paradise. He'd never know anything was wrong. So God gives us thorns and God gives us thistles and God gives us problems and God gives us heartaches to say, hey, there's something wrong in this world down here. What is wrong is sin and what is the answer?

Righteousness. Now, what most people are trying to do is get rid of the thorns and the thistles but not deal with the problem that caused them. Suppose you go to the doctor and you've got a terrible headache and you've got a fever and you've got a pain and you've got swelling. Evidently, there's an infection on the inside. But all the doctor does is give you some strong medicine to kill the pain and reduce the fever. But he never deals with the infection.

Now, he's not a good doctor. I want him to kill the pain if he can but only to help to get at the infection, the problem. Now, folks, people who are trying to be happy are only treating the symptom. If you seek after righteousness, you'll be dealing with the infection. Seek righteousness and then you'll be happy.

I mean, then you'll deal with stress. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. That's his word. He makes me to drink of the still waters. That's his spirit.

What you need is to have the deepest need of your heart and your life met. It is to worship God. It is to drink of the spirit. It is to feed on the Word of God. That's sufficiency. The deepest need of your heart will be met only in Jesus.

All right? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. What did I say? Look, in our good shepherd, A, we have in him security, B, we have in him sufficiency, and C, we then have in him serenity. Serenity. He maketh me to lie down.

He maketh me to lie down. Sheep will not lie down until they're content. Have you ever seen so many people hurrying? When I go to the airports, I wonder, where are these people going? I mean, everyone, on the highway. All these people are going this way and all those people are coming this way.

Why don't they just stay over there and those people stay over here? Everybody is going, moving. I was reading in the newspaper a while back about an airplane, a fighter plane, and this is not a joke. It literally happened. This plane fired its cannon and was moving so fast it overtook the bullet and shot itself down. Literally. I mean, I had to reread that.

I thought that was just putting on, you know. But no, it was moving. The plane was moving faster than the shell. And it literally overtook its own bullet and shot itself down. And a lot of folks I know doing the same thing.

I mean, they're shooting themselves down. They do not take time to slow down to be still and know that God is God. To have that serenity, that quietness. It's not a sin to be quiet. It's a sin not to be quiet. Let me give you some Scripture. Listen to what God says here. Isaiah 30 verse 15.

In quietness and confidence should be your strength. Listen to this. Psalm 46 and verse 10. Be still.

And know that I am God. Do you know what the sheep is doing when it lies down? It's chewing the cud. A sheep has a second stomach. And it puts that grass, that sweet grass, and that clover and that alfalfa. It puts that down there in that second stomach. It's loading up.

Just loading up. Then the shepherd says, Now lie down and digest what you've got. And so the sheep brings it back up and begins to chew on it, to taste it. That is when the sheep is growing. That's the most productive time for the sheep, that quiet time, that serenity.

Do you know what that is? If that green grass is the Word of God, what is the sheep doing when it's chewing the cud? It's meditating. Meditating. In his law doth he meditate day and night. There's so many scriptures on meditation. Just jot a few of them down. Psalm 1 verses 1 and 2.

I talked about that. Psalm 19, 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Psalm 104 and verse 34. My meditation of him shall be sweet. I will be glad in the Lord. Psalm 119 verse 15. I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways.

Do you know what's wrong with most of us? We don't lie down in the green grass and meditate. Even those of us who study the Word of God, how much time do we take to really, really digest and assimilate what God has given us? I mean, most of us think we've done God a wild favor if we get to church on Sunday, right?

And if we can halfway understand what the pastor's saying, fine. When you get home, do you really meditate on what you've heard? When you study God's Word in the morning, do you really have a quiet time? Do you keep a spiritual journal? Do you write down the thoughts that God gives you? Did you know that many of the things that I preach to you are things that God gives me after I've read the Word of God and sit back and think about it? You say, how do people know what's in the Word of God?

Where do you get that? Well, one way to get it is to sit back and chew the cud. I mean, sit there and meditate. And if you expect God to give you something, then you ought to have a pen or something to write it down with. You ought to keep a spiritual journal.

In His law doth He meditate day and night. You see, some of us are just too busy. If you don't have time to do this, you're too busy. You're going to miss life.

John chapter 10 is the Good Shepherd chapter. Jesus said, I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly. You're going to miss life looking for it. Sometimes I hear people tell young people this, make all the money you can just so you make it honestly. That's not good advice because if you make all the money you can, you're going to be making money when you ought to be doing something else. You're going to be making money when you ought to be being quiet along with God. I'm not against making money. I'm not against business.

But I'm trying to tell you folks, you need to stop and prioritize your life. And you know what I think God does with some of us? He makes us to lie down. He makes us to lie down. I mean, we won't do it unless He makes us. David said, before I was afflicted, I went astray. He said in another place, it has been good for me that I have been afflicted. He maketh me to lie down.

Well, why don't you just do it yourself? Why don't you just say, never mind, Lloyd, you don't have to do it that way. I'd just rather slow down. I want to get quiet. I want to be still. I want to know that thou art God.

How do you deal with stress? Remember, a distressed sheep is a sheep that's not producing wool, it's not producing fat, it's not producing lambs, it's not reproducing. He maketh me to lie down. Why does the shepherd do that?

Why? Because he loves the sheep and he wants healthy sheep. The cure for stress? Find in Jesus Christ your security. He's the good shepherd. Find in him sufficiency?

The green pastures. Find in him serenity. He maketh me.

He maketh me to lie down. Can you say, as David said, the Lord is my shepherd? Not a shepherd.

We all know that. Can you say he is my shepherd? If not, may I help you right now this moment? Would you begin to pray a prayer like this just out of your heart?

Just pray silently but fervently. Dear God, I need you and I want you. I want to know you personally. I want my sin forgiven. I want you to live in my heart.

I want strength for living. I want to know that I'm going to heaven when I die. Jesus, you're the good shepherd. You died for this lost sheep. You paid for my sin. Thank you for paying for my sin.

Thank you that you love me so much. Now, Jesus, come into my heart. Forgive my sin. Save me, Jesus.

Did you ask him? Then by faith, according to the promise of his word, would you thank him for saving you? The Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Would you just pray this way? Thank you, Lord Jesus, for saving me.

I receive it by faith right now. You're now my shepherd. You're now my savior, my God, and my friend forever. And now, Lord Jesus, I will live for you the rest of my life and help me never, ever to be ashamed of you. In your name I pray. Amen.

Welcome to God's forever family. We can't wait to hear from you. Now, if you'd like a copy of today's message, you can order one by calling us at 1-877-LOVEGOD. Mention the title, How to Handle Stress. This message is also part of the insightful The Secret of Satisfaction series. With that complete collection, all 18 powerful messages, call 877-LOVEGOD or go online to lwf.org slash radio. Or you can write us to order at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Thanks for studying in God's word with us today.

Do you have a hard time with stress? Find in Jesus Christ your security, His sufficiency, and the serenity that comes from meditating on the word of God. And be sure to tune in next time for more from Adrian Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding. A listener from Alabama wrote us recently and said this, Love Worth Finding is a constant source of encouragement for me. The messages are always relevant to today, no matter when Adrian Rogers first gave them.

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