The world has always been full of pressures.  When Adam and Eve chose to leave the serenity of the Garden of Eden and follow the path of sin and self-will, God warned them that their life would be a difficult one, full of sweat, toil, and tears (Genesis 3).  That is no less the case in today's world. Today we have achieved information overload, thanks to television, radio, the internet, cell phones, and Blackberrys.  Much of the information we receive from these mediums is negative.  We hear about the breakdown in social stability, the loss moral values, and the absence of world order--all the bad news.  Combine that with the pressures of the daily commute, the demands of work, the ever growing problems of health care, and the stresses of the average man, woman, and child increase exponentially.   

In his book, Stress/Unstress, Keith W. Wehnert gives 11 symptoms of stress overload: 

1. Decision-making becomes difficult (both major and minor kinds).
2. Excessive daydreaming or fantasizing about "getting away from it all."
3. Increased use of cigarettes and/or alcohol.
4. Increased use of tranquilizers and "uppers."
5. Thoughts trail off while speaking or writing.
6. Excessive worrying about all things.
7. Sudden outbursts of temper and hostility.
8. Paranoid ideas and mistrust of friends and family.
9. Forgetfulness for appointments, deadlines, dates.
10. Frequent spells of brooding and feeling of inadequacy.
11. Reversals in usual behavior. 

Do any of those symptoms sound familiar?  Perhaps this list hits all too close to home.  Medical doctors will tell you that stress can make a wreck of your health.  It can also put your job and relationships in jeopardy.  And when stressed out people collide with each other at work, in the home, at church, or on the road--watch out!  We end up saying things we wish had never come out of our mouths.  We do things that can cause a lifetime of injury and regret. 

So how do we control stress, so that it doesn't control us?  One word: Meditation.  You say, "Bill, are you pushing some kind of New Age mysticism on me?"  Not at all.  Meditation is a very Biblical concept.  Check out the following verse of scripture:  

"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful" (Joshua 1:8).   Joshua must have been stressed out by the great (and seemingly insurmountable) task that lay before him: leading God's people across the Jordon River to face their enemies in battle and then claim the Promised Land for future generations.  In the midst of Joshua's uncertainty, God promised him "good success" (KJV) if he would continually meditate upon the Word of God.  

Time for a definition. Two Hebrew words are used to speak of meditation in the Bible.  One is "hagah" which means to "ponder, imagine, study, talk."  The other is "aiyach" which essentially means "to converse with oneself and to talk with God in prayer." 

If you think of it in that light, we meditate all the time--often about things that whip us up into an anxious frenzy.  Instead of meditating on that one coworker who rubs you the wrong way, that nosy neighbor who is always meddling in your business, the gossip at church who won't stop talking about you, the piles of bills stacked up on your kitchen table, or a myriad of other things that get under our skin, we could be meditating on how much God loves and cares for us.  We could be meditating on words that give us strength, wisdom, and courage.  

That's precisely what David did.  Consider the following verses: 

"But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2). "I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds" (Psalm 77:2). "My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises" (Psalm 119:148 ).

Suppose for the rest of the week YOU were to choose to meditate day and night on God's law of liberty (James 1:25), instead of the personal politics of work?  Suppose you were to make the choice to meditate on all the mighty deeds that God has accomplished in your life over the years, instead of wallowing in thoughts of depression.  Suppose you were to meditate on the promises of God and refuse to give in to feelings of anger and frustration.  How would your life change? 

You just might find yourself taking time to breathe, walking at a slower pace, stopping to observe the beauty in the world, being a little less dramatic, and thanking God for the innumerable blessings that surround you. 

This week, choose a passage of Scripture to meditate upon and do it consistently throughout the week.  Worried about the bills?  Check out Matthew 6:27-29.  Conflict with others?  Look up Romans 12:14-21.  Feelings of insecurity?  Memorize Philippians 4:13.  

When you "let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly" and meditate on the things of God, you will find that God puts a joyous song in your heart (Colossians 3:16).