WHEN CIRCUMSTANCES OVERWHELM

God lifts us up when circumstances pull us down
Psalm 42:1-3, 6-8; 43:3-5

Have you ever been overwhelmed?  Of course you have.  Anytime you feel buried or drowned beneath a huge mass you are said to be overwhelmed.

Have you ever been underwhelmed?  Probably. A more recently coined term, when something fails to impress or make a positive impact, or disappoints you, you are said to be underwhelmed.

Have you ever just been whelmed?  Huh?  To whelm something is to cover it over, more specifically an act or instance of flowing or heaping up abundantly; a surge.  

Sometimes we are underwhelmed, sometimes we are overwhelmed and a lot of the time life just seems to whelm us routinely.


There are many life stressors:  

• Death of a spouse or child
• Divorce
• Marital separation or family breakup
• Imprisonment
• Death of other close family member
• Personal injury or serious illness
• Burdensome debt
• Unemployment
• Marital reconciliation
• Retirement
• and many other of life's problems and circumstances.

These two psalms show us that even the psalmist had times of depression and distress. Not only that, but other Biblical and modern examples demonstrate that being whelmed or overwhelmed is a common occurrence.

• Moses felt so overwhelmed by the Israelites' endless complaining he urged God "if you are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now if I have found favor with you, and don't let me see my misery anymore."  (Num. 11:15)

• Elijah was overwhelmed with his fear of Jezebel that he prayed "I have had enough!  Lord, take my life, for I'm no better than my fathers."  (1 Kings 19:4)

• Asaph, in Psalm 77, notes: I cry aloud to God,...I refused to be comforted.  I think of God; I groan; ... I am troubled and cannot speak.  "Will the Lord reject forever and never again show favor?  Has his faithful love ceased forever?  Is his promise at an end for all generations?  Has God forgotten to be gracious?  Has he in anger withheld his compassion?"  [of course not].  "So I say, 'I am grieved"."  Asaph points the way to overcoming being overwhelmed:  "I will remember the Lord's works; yes, I will remember Your ancient wonders.  I will reflect on all You have done and meditate on Your actions."  God, Your way is holy."

• Abraham Lincoln suffered such depression that his friends kept all knives away for fear he might commit suicide.

• Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great preacher from London, was also plagued with depression.

When the psalmist of these passages felt overwhelmed and was jeered by his enemies that his God had forsaken him, he became "deeply depressed" and felt as overwhelmed as if standing at the base of a waterfall while the waters overwhelmed him.  He, too, recalls God's love, works, and promises and will repent from being dejected and instead put hope in God and meditate on God's promises, works, grace and love.  

We all have times of being whelmed or overwhelmed.  We can bare our hearts before God and look to his promises, his grace, his love, and remember, like Asaph, that God has not changed and that we can seek the help that God will provide to us in our time of need.