Please read: Matt 11:28, 2 Cor 1:3-11

"Our duty is not to focus on God's work, which is too immense for our eyes to behold, but to fix our eyes on Him Who does His mighty work. " -- O.Wu

In our daily lives, hardships and problems build up stress within us and distresses from without until we eventually burn out or simply succumb due to the overwhelming stress that accumulates over time. During these periods of times, we have a tendency to shut the door to our hearts as a self-defense mechanism in an attempt to shield ourselves from further stress and to maintain our sanity; however, the danger of shutting the door of our hearts is that we may also be shutting the necessary help that we need, especially from the Lord Himself.

When we succumb to the tensions and pressures of our lives and surroundings, we also have a natural inclination to feel sorry for ourselves. If we give in to such inclinations, we would have fallen into the trap of the enemy to take our focus away from the Lord and instead focus intently on the problem at hand and on ourselves -- neither one of which will foster any encouragement. In effect, our self-pity becomes a magnifying glass in which our problems seem wholly insurmountable and the forces against us seem inexorable. Obviously, this way of coping with our problems will only dig us into a deeper hole from which we cannot extricate ourselves, because the Lord Who is our "ever present Help in trouble" (Psa 46:1) is clouded out of the picture altogether.

Our comfort, our encouragement, our goal, and our hope hinges upon where we place our focus. Hence we are exhorted to "look away unto Jesus" (Heb 12:2) if we are to run the race towards the goal without being distracted by our problems or entangled by any sins. The apostle Paul served as an exemplar of one who "finished the course and kept the faith" (2 Tim 4:7) by constantly pursuing towards the goal (Phi 3:14) which requires that his eyes are focused on the goal. Just like in biking: if your eyes are focus on a certain direction for a while, that is the direction you'll be headed, whether consciously or inadvertently. Thus, the moment we focus only on ourselves or our problems, we have stopped looking away unto our Lord Jesus, Who alone can give us the lasting comfort and the desperate help that we need.

As the "God of all comfort", He bids us to "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28) . We shall find rest, comfort and even be of good cheer, if we are willing to come to the Lord and surrender our anxieties and concerns to the One Who has "overcome the world" (Jn 16:33). We need to learn to not allow the stress and troubles of this world to pile on our shoulder; rather, we need to relinquish them to the Lord and keep our eyes focus on Him, only then will we not be overwhelmed and be pulled under by the tides of troubled waters that surge around us.