Frustrated!!!

Posted by Christian St John in Faithblogs | 2 comments

I have spent the last few hours trying to work out the kinks in a new piece of software, only to find it doesn’t do what I want it to do. I hate wasting time and I feel that is what I have just done. Needless to say I am somewhat frustrated.

If you are reading this then that must mean you are alive, and that means you are susceptible to frustration. We all are! It could be that someone has let you down. Maybe there’s more bills coming in than money. What about broken plans. All can leave us feeling extremely frustrated – none of us is immune to frustration.

Yesterday, I was speaking to a friend who told me about some health concerns she is having. It turns out that the doctors have run some tests but don’t know at this point what the diagnosis is. They told her that there could a ways to go before they will know what it is that’s affecting my friend. Speaking to her yesterday she was stressed and frustrated. Not knowing what is going on tends to do that to people.

As I write this I realize that I really have nothing to be frustrated about, after all it’s only a piece of software, it’s not life threatening. But what are we to do when we get frustrated? Well, the answer may be a pat answer, but it’s a good one.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matt.11:28 (ISV)

I’m sure if you’re a Christian you would have heard this verse before, but what does it really mean to rest in Christ? Well, we are all burdened with the day to day of life. The little things can mount up and become big things. And then there are those things that are big to begin with… and they can all weary us, stress us out, and leave us feeling frustrated.

Jesus himself felt frustration with the disciples when they didn’t understand him. “When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’” Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?” Mark 4: 10-13

In this text Jesus was obviously frustrated. In fact, if we had been there we might have seen Jesus throw his hands up in the air and shake his head. There are several other instances in the gospels of Jesus being frustrated with his disciples due to their inability to grasp various concepts. I mean, after all he showed them there were times when they just didn’t get it.

Another time we see extremely Jesus frustrated was when he entered the temple in Jerusalem to worship only to find that the temple courtyard had been turned into a “buy and sell” market. So, we know Jesus knows what it is to be frustrated. But at any point Jesus would have taken those he was frustrated with into his arms and he would have carried them a mile if they had asked.

Think about this, do you think God gets frustrated with you? When he asks you to do something and you fail to do it? When he is calling you to himself and you stay put? Then think about this, God may get frustrated with us, but he still invites to come to him when we are all but spent and finished.

The truth is we all get burdened down with cares of this world. And sometimes we even bring those burdens upon ourselves. But Jesus is waiting to lighten our load and love us through whatever we may be going through. The Bible tells us that when we are weak he is strong and that when we fall he comes alongside us, lifts us to our feet, wipes us down, and sets us back on the right path.

But notice one thing, Jesus says to “Come!” He wants to help us and it is his hearts desire to give us rest, but we must first come to him. It has to be our choice. And this is when it gets hard, because we humans like to try and solve every issue and problem on our own. We moan and sulk and feel self pity and whine and get frustrated, while all along Jesus is holding out his arms to hold us and give us the rest that we so desperately, and so often, need.

Christian St John M.Div, BChM, ACS
April, 2009

Picture by Rene Asmussen