June 3, 2025 Devo

“Overwhelmed.” Have you ever felt that way? It seems as if I’ve been hearing that word a lot lately. Sometimes it’s the feeling that comes from an avalanche of a lot of “little” things. Like kids, work, household chores, church commitments, shopping, car repairs, and yardwork, all of which need time and attention TODAY. Oh yeah, and your family wants to go on a vacation!
Sometimes “overwhelmed” is not an avalanche—a bunch of little snowflakes that are all hitting you at once. It’s a boulder. It’s a single, huge weight that’s crushing you, a cancer diagnosis, the loss of a spouse, a financial hit that you can’t come close to covering, a job loss, an unexpected, devastating betrayal. Like a sci-fi movie where a planet has been blown apart by a giant asteroid, you’re left wondering where to even begin to put your world back together.
If you can identify with any of that, then this psalm is for you. In fact, you might want to go back and read the whole thing through a couple of times. I found it interesting as I read this psalm that the psalmist used the word “overwhelmed” twice. That told me that he wasn’t just overwhelmed. He was REALLY overwhelmed!
But in the midst of his pain and suffering, he does much more than just complain. He cries out to God. That sounds like a good idea for us, too. But unlike the psalmist, we don’t cry out to God who simply SEES our circumstances. We cry out to a Jesus who UNDERSTANDS our circumstances. Remember what Jesus said to His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane? “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” (Matt 26:38 NIV) There’s that word “overwhelmed” again. And I guess if Jesus felt it, it’s okay for us to feel it as well.
Pay attention to the model of Jesus as you go through this overwhelming time. He not only steps aside for some meaningful prayer time with God, He does something else. He asks a few of His close friends to sit and pray with Him. Don’t feel as if you have to shovel out from under this avalanche or lift this heavy boulder all by yourself. There are many of us around you who may not be able to make it all go away, but we’re willing to sit, listen, and pray with you as you cry out to a God who understands. We can’t stop the overwhelming circumstances of life from happening. But we can lean upon God and lean upon one another as we find a way through. You may be overwhelmed, but you are not alone! That’s God’s Word for you today.