S.t.r.e.s.s. This word fuels conversation and tempts competition between people over who has the worst case of it. Stress response is simply a proclamation that my needs cannot be met without myself at the center. We’re in an epidemic in our country, because over 40 million Americans, ages 18 and over, suffer from stress, fearfulness, and anxiety.

David displays the antidote: “Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me.” Psalm 131:2 NAS  David composed and quieted his own soul.

In this psalm, David reveals the keys to contentment. Don’t pursue the “great things,” –things out of reach, outside our purpose–but become like a child. Stresses come when the heart and eyes are lifted up…showing off how good and powerful we feel we are, or strive to be. Yet with our heads full of facts and our lives full of rules, we find ourselves demanding relief!

When a baby is hungry, no one rests until he or she is fed. They are easily agitated ~ stressed!! A nursing baby roots around for the breast, selfishly grasping. However, a weaned child is content in his or her mother’s arms…no longer rooting around to please self, but coming to maturity. Stress must then be an indicator of a once-demanding child who is now in process of becoming one contented and weaned from the breast.

John Calvin wrote: “The stability of the world depends on this rejoicing of God in His works. If on earth, such praise of God does not come to pass,…then the whole order of nature will be thrown into confusion.”