when you feel overwhelmed (450 vs. 1)

"Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.
From the end of the earth I call to You, when my heart is overwhelmed and weak;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I [a rock that is too high to reach without Your help]."
Psalm 61:1-2, AMP

We've all felt the unrelenting tug of overwhelm at various points in our lives.

From a veritable stack of homework, tottering and heavy, to a stack of dirty dishes and unswept floors.

From trying to balance your child's needs with your own.

From the grief of losing someone you love to either a severed friendship or death.

From disappointment or discouragement that life isn't turning out the way you'd hoped.

From the failing economy and enormous financial pressures.

From too much to do and too little time.

From the darkness looming large like a stormcloud, the evil that seems to rampage unchecked in our world.

From feeling abandoned by a God that you are assured is loving but you just can't see it.

We've all experienced overwhelm. Emotional, physical, mental, interpersonal, and spiritual overwhelm.

Let's face it: life is a lot. Often, there is simply too much to do. We are limited and try as we might, we cannot complete our to-do lists. We are easily exhaustible whereas our to-do lists are seemingly inexhaustible.

According to Merriam Webster, overwhelmed has several definitions.

To bury or drown beneath a huge mass.

To defeat completely.

To give too much of a thing to someone; inundate.

To have a strong emotional effect on [someone].

To be too strong for; to overpower.

Maybe you feel this way. Maybe you have been run ragged trying to keep up the pace, trying to run a race that you don't even want to be a part of. I recently read an article about how traditional media consumption has changed because it's too hard to keep up. People are turning to video summaries of TV shows and movies attempting to keep up with what friends are watching because there just isn't enough time! We are only grazing the surface of our lives because all of our time is filled up with distraction and comparison.

Maybe you feel buried under the sheer amount of things you "need" to do. Maybe you feel utterly defeated, like hope is an illusion and there's no point in trying anymore.

If this is you, you're not alone.

And this is not a new feeling.

I want to take us to Judges chapters 6-7. Allow me to set the scene:

God's people, the Israelites, have disobeyed Him, doing all manner of evil things. As a result, they have been tyrannized by the Midianites.

Some backstory: the Midianites were a nomadic tribe whose name meant "place of judgement" and "strife." And they were cruel. It says in this passage that they were so cruel that the Israelites were hiding in caves and that Midianite marauders would invade, stealing all of their crops and livestock. This was certainly an overwhelming time for the Israelites.

Our story begins with a pretty cowardly dude. This guy, Gideon, is hiding at the bottom of a wine press to thresh wheat because he doesn't want to be discovered by the Midianites. He was overwhelmed by despair at the state of his country, and he is totally scared.

He is a doubter. He literally says to the angel God sends to Him "the LORD has abandoned us!" Several times he asks God for signs to prove that He really is on Gideon's side.

He is ordinary, there is nothing overly special about him. But that's the thing about God - we don't have to be overly special or extraordinary, because He is everything good that we are not.

Fast forward to chapter 7. Gideon has decided to trust that God means what He says (after a few experiences where God does some cool things to show Gideon He means business) and he is rallying the Israelite troops to go to war against the Midianite army. They are severely outnumbered, but they have hope on their side.

Then God does something unfathomable.

He tells Gideon that he has too many warriors. I can only imagine how the conversation would go.

Gideon is alarmed, "What do you mean, God?! We are already so outnumbered. These guys have 135,000 troops. More than 100,000 more than we do! How can we have too many?!" But God is unwavering, so Gideon allows anybody who is scared to go home. More than two-thirds of his army walk away. And then God says "There are still too many."

Gideon runs his hands through his hair in dismay, knowing all too well the weakness of his warriors. Gulping down his fear, he says, "Okay, God. What next?"

After one final test, Gideon is left with an army of 300 men. If you hate math, no worries, I did it for you! That means that for every 450 Midianite soldiers there was 1 Israelite. Those are some pretty scummy odds. If you check out the image, this is kind of what it would look like if the soldiers were paperclips. The situation was pretty bleak.

I just want to pause here for a moment of irony. When God first called Gideon, He said to him "I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man." Now Gideon was the one whose army was 1 for every 450 of the Midianites!

Sometimes it feels like we are outnumbered or overpowered in our lives too. There's too much to do and too little time. We have limited resources. We just can't go on. We think nothing I do can make a difference anyway.

But even when things looked hopeless, Gideon and his 300 soldiers stepped out in faith, trusting that where their limited strength ended, God would pick up the slack.

And He did.

The Israelites won the battle that day but through no strength of their own.

The Israelites had courage that day but through no quality of their own.

The Israelites didn't give up but this was not a result of how good they were.

It was because of God.

The things we do are sometimes too much - for us.

Situations in our lives are too much - for us.

Our pain and grief are too much to bear - for us.

When you are overwhelmed, when things are too much, when you feel like you are drowning under the weight of it all, let go. Stop trying to hold your world together. When you are up against unbeatable odds, remember that God + you always equal a majority. 450 to 1 is not impossible when God is the One on your side.

When you are so scared that you are fighting for your life, hiding and cowering like Gideon, remind yourself that your God is not scared or surprised by anything that occurs.

When you are doubting that God is good, remind yourself that God's perspective is so much bigger than yours and He loved you enough to send His only Son to die in your place. He can handle all of your doubts with truth and grace. He won't fail you now.

When you are feeling hopeless, too small, and like your little ordinary efforts can't possibly make a difference, remind yourself that God is on your side. Take one step at a time, holding tightly to the hands that hold the world all the while. He will never leave you nor forsake you.