I had just been elected the President of the Southern Baptist Convention about two months before and already I was having trouble sleeping. I was waking up many times at 3:30am and 4:00am in the morning. Why? I might have up to ninety-plus emails to respond to, a mountain of correspondence that I had to answer and you never knew when the media was going to come calling. I had agreed to travel all over the world to visit the fourteen different regions where we had missionaries. I had to prepare two messages every week for the church and we had just begun the process that would result in the founding of this church. There was always a stack of phone calls to return. There was always board of trustees and agency heads to address, not to mention a wife and one son still at home on a full-time basis. To put it bluntly, "The load was too heavy." I was under the mess of stress.
Is anybody here under stress? The word "stress" comes from a Latin word that means, "to be drawn tight." Anybody here slightly uptight about anything? How many times do you here someone say, "I am all stressed out"? I know a lot of people who are all stressed up and have no place to go.
On June 6, 1983, Time magazine's cover story was called, "Stress - The Epidemic Of The 80's". They referred to it as our leading health problem. Twenty-plus years later that problem has only gotten worse. [[1]]
- Seven out of ten people feel stressed at some point during a typical workday.
- Eighty percent of workers feel stressed on the job.
- Forty percent of all job-turnover is due to stress.
- Somewhere between 75 and 90% of all visits to the doctor's office stem from stress.
- Thirty-four percent of workers report difficulty in sleeping because they are too stressed out.
- Stress is now costing American business over $150 billion dollars a year in healthcare costs, lost work time, and poor quality of work. [[2]]
Stress is now known to be one of the leading causes of heart disease and cancer. It is one of the leading causes of depression. Many times it can lead to migraine headaches, hypertension, chest pains, ulcers, gastritis, colitis and heartburn.
Believe me, we are all in this together. In a recent Los Angeles Times article, psychologist Richard Blackmon, says that pastors are the single most occupationally frustrated group in America. About 75% of pastors go through a period of stress so great that they consider quitting the ministry, and 35 to 40% actually do. Twelve hundred ministers leave the ministry every month. [[3]]
Do you know one of the things that stresses me It seems like you can't go anywhere today and get away from stress, because we have stress inducers both inside the home as well as outside the home out? These recorded messages that businesses use to direct you where you need to go. If you've ever had to endure one of these recorded message events you have to become convinced there is a hell, there is a devil and there are demons.
I read about a counseling center hotline that used the following voicemail message, "Thank you for calling. If you are obsessive-compulsive, please press "one" repeatedly. If you are co-dependant, please ask someone to press "two" for you. If you have multiple personalities, please press "three, four, five and six." If you are paranoid-delusional, remember that we know who you are. Even while you have been holding, we have been tracing this call. If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press. If you are manic-depressive it doesn't matter which number you press, no one is going to answer. Have a good day."
How about those messages people leave for you when you call their home—they can be pretty stressful and annoying as well. Consider these actual messages:
- Speak.
- Hi. Now you say something.
- Hello. I'm David's answering machine. What are you?
- Hi! John's answering machine is broken. This is his refrigerator. Please speak very slowly, and I'll stick your message to myself with one of these magnets.
- Hello, You are talking to a machine. I am capable of receiving messages. My owners do not need siding, windows, or a hot tub, and their carpets are clean. They give to charity through their office and do not need their pictures taken. If you're still with me, leave your name and number and they will get back to you.
- This is not an answering machine. This is a telepathic thought-recording device. After the tone, think about your name, your reason for calling and a number where I can reach you and I'll think about returning your call.
- Hi. I am probably home. I'm avoiding someone I don't like. Leave me a message, and if I don't call back, it's you.
- Hi, this is George. I'm sorry I can't answer the phone right now. Leave a message, and then wait by your phone until I call you back.
- If you are a burglar, then we're at home cleaning our weapons right now and can't answer the phone. Otherwise, we probably aren't home and it is safe to leave us a message.
- Hi. This is John: If you are the phone company, I already sent the money. If you are my parents, please send money. If you are my Financial aid institution, you didn't lend me enough money. If you are my friends, you owe me money. If you are a female, don't worry I have plenty of money.
- How do you keep an idiot in suspense? Leave a message and I'll get back to you.
- I can't come to the phone now, so if, well, actually, I CAN come to the phone now, I mean, like, I'm at the phone NOW, recording this message, but I'm doing this NOW, while you're listening to it LATER, except for you I guess it's NOW, like, when you're listening to it... I mean, like, wait, gosh. This is so confusing.
Just listening to that got me all stress out! Fortunately, God has an answer to stress. In fact, there is a story of one of the greatest men in all of the Bible, who almost burned out and died early, because he was burning the candle at both ends and his load was just too heavy. Moses was the first "stressed out" person in the Bible. He was a classic case of burnout. He was trying to do more than God wanted him to do. He was trying to do it all by himself and through a wise father-in-law, God intervened and literally saved both his life and the nation that he was serving and shared with us, through him, how to overcome stress in our lives. In one sentence, here is the key - Key Take Away: Do only what you only can do. Delegate the rest to others and leave the results to God. So, let's do what Moses did and...
I. See Your Limitations
Understand what stress is - it is the gap between demands that are placed upon us in everyday life and the strength we have in meeting those demands. Different people call it different things. Some call it the stress factor. Some call it the stress ratio. Some call it the stress component. Some call it the stress formula.
Basically, it is the gap between my "ought to's" and my "can't do's." When my "can do" can't keep up with my "want to," frustration, tension, and stress set in.
That was exactly the problem with Moses. "It came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from the morning until the evening. Now when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, 'What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?' Moses said to his father-in-law, 'Because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His laws.' Moses' father-in-law said to him, 'The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.'" (Exodus 18:13-18, NASB)
I want you to see that Moses' stress was honestly earned. Sometimes we get stressed out because we procrastinate and we don't do what we ought to do when we ought to do it or we are just plain lazy and let things go undone. Moses was not lazy. He was getting into the office before sunup and not leaving until sundown. He was working six days a week with no vacations and no time off. He was the classic workaholic. His fuel tank was empty. He had not only reached his limits; he had exceeded his limits. Now he had to see his limits.
In the 19th Century the shipping industry was having a very difficult time because ships were sinking in very heavy seas. In 1880 Samuel Plimsoll of the United Kingdom, came up with a solution. He submitted a bill in Parliament insisting that a line be drawn around the outside of the hull on all British ships. When the ships were loaded with freight and reached the level where the line hit the water, the ships were not allowed to load anymore freight, because they knew any load heavier than that would sink the ship. That marking on a ship's hull became known as the Plimsoll Line and we all have one.
We all have limits. Have you ever noticed when you get behind a huge tractor trailer that is carrying a lot of cargo or freight, there is a sign that tells the load limit that that truck can carry? Well, if a tractor trailer with a massive engine and unbelievable power has limits to its load, so do we.
Now Moses looked a lot on the outside like a lot of you do. He was very impressive; eating on the run, ripping from one end of the camp to the other, planning appointments, meeting deadlines, seeing people; but on the inside he was dying every day. Though he couldn't see it, his father-in-law could.
He was literally stressed out. He was burning the candle at both ends and his wax was almost gone. Do you remember what his father-in-law said to him in verse 18? "You will surely wear out." (Exodus 18:18, NASB) The Hebrew word for wearing out literally means, "to become old." Moses was growing old before his time, wearing himself out.
Years ago we bought a grandfather clock. We hired a professional, who works specifically with these types of clocks, to delver that clock to our home. When he brought it to us and set it up, he said, "There are two dangers you need to avoid with this type of clock (1) don't let it run down; (2) don't wind it too tight." That is exactly what happened to Moses and what happens to us when we get wound too tight, we also begin to run down. Remember the key take away today? Do only what you can do. Delegate the rest to others and leave the results to God. Once you see your limitations and realize there are some things you simply can't do, then you...
II. Share The Load
When you are carrying too much and the load is too heavy, you will eventually share that load one way or the other. You will either finally collapse where you cannot carry any part of the load or you will share a part of that load so you can carry the load that you ought to be carrying. That was exactly the advice that Moses father-in-law gives him. "Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you." (Exodus 18:21-22, NASB)
Moses' father-in-law tells him to get others involved in doing things that they can do so Moses can do what only he can do. If you are trying to lift a heavy load, both of your hands are better than one of your hands. Six hands are better than two hands. It is not the size of a job that causes stress; it is the sharing of a job that determines whether or not that job is stressful.
One of the greatest leadership lessons I've ever learned is this - you delegate to others what others can do, so you can focus on the things that only you can do. Nobody is indispensable, but everybody is important. Remember this about work. Work is not only a burden, but work also brings blessings. One of the reasons why other people need to get under the burden of the work is so they can also enjoy the blessings of the work.
Do you notice that Jethro (Moses father-in-law) doesn't just tell Moses just to dump the work on just anybody; he stresses the importance of who he delegates those jobs to. Delegation is more than just giving a job away. Delegation to the wrong person is a recipe for disaster.
When you delegate, you've got to:
- Find the right people
- Give them the right job
- Trust them to do the right thing
There is no need for anyone in this life ever to burn out over work. I believe burn out is totally out of the will of God. I don't believe we ought to burn out. On the other hand, I don't believe we ought to get lazy and rust out. I believe we ought to last out.
The problem is we crowd the calendar and clutter our lives with so many things that our hard-drive just shuts down and we can't function. There was a housewife who went to her doctor and he said, "What is wrong with you?" She said, "I feel run-down." After a brief examination he said, "Lady, you are not too run down. You are to wound up."
I don't care how great you think you are and how indispensable you think you are to a company or an organization. Nobody, not even a Moses, as great a man as he was, can do everything. One of the things I am continuously trying to learn how to do is not work harder, but work smarter. I cannot tell you how much correspondence I get in the mail that twenty years ago I would have answered, but I always ask myself now this question when I get any letter in the mail or correspondence. Is this letter for me? Is this something I only can answer? Is this something only I can handle? I am determined to share the load. Remember our key take away - Do only what you can do. Delegate the rest to others and leave the results to God which tells me the last thing I must o when the load gets too heavy...
III. Seek The Lord
Go back to the first piece of advice that Jethro gave Moses, "Now listen to me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people's representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God. (Exodus 18:19, NASB) Here was the root of Moses' problem. He had been spending too much time talking to the people about God and not enough time talking to God about the people.
Let me put it to you this way. Somebody is going to set your schedule. You can either set your schedule and determine what you are going to do under the leadership and guidance of God or someone is going to set your schedule for you. There are times that I believe that God allows us to get stressed out to force us to come to Him for guidance and strength.
There may be some things that you cannot handle, but there is nothing that you and God together cannot handle. The key is to make sure you are handling only those things that God wants you to handle. I can tell you this if you've got more to do at the end of the day than you can get done, then you are trying to do more than God wanted you to do.
When you feel like you are between a rock and a hard place and you are being pressed in on every side, you are being squeezed in from every direction that is stress doing a number on you. In the middle of that stress, God is calling out to you and God is saying to you, if you will seek Me, and spend time with Me, and listen to Me, I will tell you what you need to do and I will give you the power and the strength to do it. This is the beauty of letting that happen. Do only what you only can do. Delegate the rest to others and leave the results to God.
What would be the result for Moses? "If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace." (Exodus 18:23, NASB) Look at all the benefits Moses would get when he would handle stress God's way. He would live longer. He would work smarter, everybody would be happier and nobody would be exhausted. All that needed to get done would get done and everybody's life would be in balance.
A bathysphere is a miniature submarine that is used to explore the ocean in places so deep that the water pressure would crush a conventional submarine like aluminum can. Bathyspheres have been known to dive up to 37,000 feet into the ocean.
When the bathysphere was invented, and it went to this depth for the first time in human history, scientists discovered to their amazement as they were looking out into the deep that there were fish actually swimming at this depth in the ocean. They didn't understand how fish could survive at that type of water pressure.
You see, the bathysphere compensates with plate steel several inches thick. But these fish had extremely thin skin, but they were flexible and supple and swam around as if they were at the top of a swimming pool. Do you know what the scientists finally figured out? The fish compensate for the outside pressure through equal and opposite inside pressure.
When you will carry with you the presence of God in your life on a daily basis, when you will appropriate His power for what you need to do and get His perspective on what you ought to do, it will more than equal any pressure that comes without and your load will never be too heavy.
[1] www.stress.org/problem.htm
[2] "Spiritual Total Stress Includes Guilt, Doubt," The Christian Index, January 3, 1991.
[3] "Pastoral Pressures Take Their Toll", Pastor's Weekly Briefing, Feb. 12, 1999 (Vol. 7, N. 7) pp. 1-2