One of the great aspects of faith to be restored in these last days is the principle of health reform. Many refer to seven laws of health: air, sunshine, water, exercise, nutrition, rest, and trust in God. Some people also include an eighth law—temperance. However, if you look at the first seven, you will see that temperance comes into effect with all of them. Whether you are talking about air or rest, diet or exercise, temperance plays a part in all of them. So we can safely refer to them as seven laws.
I like to remember them in a particular order. I suppose it is based on how long you can live without any of that particular ingredient. For example, if we look at air, how long can we live without air? Three minutes. There have been extreme occasions where people have been trapped under water for twenty minutes, but because the water was so cold the whole metabolism slowed down, and they managed to survive twenty minutes without air.
However, generally speaking, maybe a few minutes is the longest period that we can live without air. And if by some chance we were to spend twenty minutes without breathing, that would be a very long time. Certainly, we cannot go for hours without air.
If we were to look at water, how long can we go without water? How long can a human last without water? Now we are talking not in terms of minutes or hours. We speak of days and weeks.
Without food; how long can a person last with no food? Now we are talking weeks to months.
Rest. How long can a person live without rest? This is very debatable. I heard just this week that there is a man in England who never sleeps. In fact, he has three jobs so that he can work twenty-four hours a day because he doesn’t need to sleep. While he is eating he has his rest. He is still awake; he can still hold a conversation, but he has sufficient rest that he can continue. Apparently he never sleeps. He has not slept for eighteen years.
What about sunshine? How long can we live without sunshine? Again, there are situations where people have lived for quite some time without sunshine—quite a few years.
Exercise. In many developed countries, there are a lot of people who never do any exercise. And they live sixty, seventy, eighty years—their whole life—and they have never done any exercise.
Trust in God. There are many people who have no trust in divine power, and they manage to live their life without trust.
Although this sequence is in order of how long we can live without this particular element, it is by no means a sequence of importance, because all of these elements are very important to our health. But today I would like in particular to talk about trust in God, because this is one of the factors which the world lacks the most.
There are many people who are becoming increasingly health conscious, and they talk about exercise. They talk about watching their diet, good, clean water. The fact that there are so many companies now selling bottled water shows that this is now coming to the fore. But trust in God is something that is neglected.
Especially among ourselves, when we usually talk about health reform, the number one topic for discussion is diet. And due to that fact, generally speaking, our diet is better than the average person in the world.
In the western culture, America, Australia, England, and parts of western Europe, the number one killer is heart disease. That is the number one killer. The four criteria that put you in the high risk group are your genetic makeup, your diet, the amount of exercise you do, and the level of stress that you have.
The number two killer is cancer. Again, the genetic makeup, faulty diet, and stress are all risk factors.
If we look at our genetic makeup, there is nothing we can do about it. We cannot change that. It was given to us by our parents. We can change our diet, and we do change our diet.
But what about our level of stress? Do we, as the people of God, generally speaking, have less stress than the average person in the world? Do we have the same amount, or do we have more? God wants us to be in health. He does not want us to have more stress because this is a serious problem in our culture today.
In Proverbs 15:13 we read: “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.”
Solomon realized that if you are happy you will look well. If sorrowful, your spirit will be broken. In Proverbs 17:22, he says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” A broken spirit has an ill effect on your health. It makes you feel weak and down, and this comes from sorrow.
When we talk about stress, we have to understand what is stress. A lot of people now think that stress is a whole lot of circumstances that are placed upon you, forming a stressful situation. And so, therefore, stress would be beyond your control. But you can have two people in the same situation; one is stressed and the other is not. Therefore, we see that stress is not due to circumstances, but stress is how you react to those circumstances. In reality, stress is a lack of trust in God.
How do we arrive at that? Think about the situations that really worry you—the ones that make you nervous and tight and give you sleepless nights. When you are in those situations, what is your concern? Is your concern about something that has happened, or is your concern about something which may happen? Think about it.
Something may have just happened, but you are not so worried about that. You are worried about the consequences of that. What is going to happen? What if this happens? What if that happens? How am I going to cope with this? And if I do not cope with that, what will happen? Will I lose my job? Will my wife kick me out of the house for the night? Whatever the case may be, you are worried about something which may happen. You worry about the unknown. You have a fear of the unknown.
Now, as Christians, we can either worry about things that may occur—things that may happen, or we, as Christians, can have trust in God.
But it is not surprising that heart disease, and particularly stress, is so prevalent today because it is a sign of the last days. Did you know that? That people will be having heart attacks due to stress—that is a sign of the last days. “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Luke 21:25–27.
Just prior to Jesus’ coming, there is going to be a lot of turmoil in this world. There will be distress of nations. Men’s hearts will be failing them for fear, and for a looking upon the things which are coming upon the world. Men’s hearts failing them for fear—couldn’t that refer to heart attacks due to stress? Hearts failing—that’s a heart attack. For fear—what are they fearing? It doesn’t really matter what they were fearing. They could be fearing anything, but because of that fear, they are dying. Their hearts are failing.
We often look at this verse and think it is speaking figuratively, but it also speaking literally. Men’s hearts are failing them for fear.
As God’s people, we don’t have to have the same fears that the world has, and, therefore, we should not have the stress that the world has. But generally we do. Generally we are stressed. Why? Because of a lack of trust in God.
But wait a minute! We are God’s people. We trust in Him. We believe in Him. We know. We have faith.
We know that there is a God in heaven. We know that Jesus Christ lived in this world, lived a perfect life, and died for our sins. We believe that. We have faith in Him. We know that He will save us from our sins. We know that heaven is a real place. We believe that. We trust that the Lord will take us there soon.
We believe. But do we believe everything that the Lord says? Do we believe what He says in Romans 8:28? This is one of my favorite verses because it explains to us why we do not need to fear. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Do we believe this? That all things work together for our good if—if we love God, and we are those that are called according to His purpose.
Do we believe this? When circumstances come upon us, when troubles are in our life, do we trust in God’s Word and say, “Well, this will work to our good,” or do we start to worry?
Now, at this point, I want to make a distinction between being concerned and being worried. As a Christian, we should always be concerned. We should be concerned about our influence, our position, our responsibilities, but worry is something different. Worry is something that is negative. It eats away at our bones and causes us a lot of trouble.
There is a song which we were taught as little children. Many of you were probably taught the same song. It says, “Why worry when you can pray. Trust Jesus; He’ll be your stay. Don’t be a doubting Thomas. Rest fully on His promise. Why worry, worry, worry, worry when you can pray?” Such a beautiful song, and we teach it to our children. We were taught it as children. And then we grow up, and say, “Okay. I’ll put away childish things. Now, I’m a man; I can worry.”
No. God wants us to trust in Him. He will be our stay. We don’t need to worry. It is important to understand that Satan can also control circumstances. There are many instances in the Bible where Satan caused circumstances to come upon people. And if circumstances control us, we are allowing Satan to control us at times. So we must make sure that circumstances do not control us.
So, what do we do then when we have a problem in our life? The first thing that we must do is bring our problem to the Lord; have a committee meeting with the Lord. And I come and say, “God, I have this problem,” but I must listen to what God says, because He may not see it as a problem. There are many problems which are imaginary. We think that something is a problem, and the Lord says, “That is not a problem.”
Once we have established that there is a problem and we have listened to the Lord, and the Lord says, “Yes, that is a problem,” there are two alternatives to fix this problem.
When you have a business meeting, resolutions are passed. Recently we had a window broken in our church and the resolution was passed that the window should be fixed, and everyone was in favor. If we would have left it at that, the window would never have been fixed. We had to appoint somebody to be in charge of carrying out the action. And so someone was appointed. The window was fixed.
When we come to the Lord and we establish that there is a problem, somebody must be appointed to remedy that problem. There are two possibilities—either the Lord will remedy the problem or I myself. Those are the only two possibilities. Either I will do something about it or the Lord will do something about it. I cannot control anyone else; I can only control myself and ask the Lord.
So, once we have established who is going to take charge of this problem—if it is something that I can do, will the Lord do it for me? If the remedy for the problem lies within my capabilities, will the Lord do it for me? No. If the remedy is within my capabilities, I must do it—whatever it is, whether I like it or not.
If, on the other hand, the remedy for the problem lies outside of my capabilities, then I lay that care on the Lord. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us exactly this. “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” When we cast our care upon the Lord, He cares for us. He will take that problem, and He will work out the remedy. But when we ask the Lord to do something, what do we need? What is the main ingredient that we need when we ask the Lord something? Faith.
“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” James 1:6.
If we come to the Lord and establish that we have a problem that only He can take care of, we lay that care upon Him. In faith, we ask Him to take care of it. We must have that faith. What is faith? Why do we need this faith?
We may ask the Lord to solve a particular problem. Let us think of Noah in the ark. The rain had stopped, but there was still plenty of water around. And he prays, “Lord, dry up this water.” And he goes out the window, and he looks, and he sees nothing but water. And he says, “Well, Lord, You did not do Your job. I have asked You to dry up this water. Okay. I will ask You again just in case You did not hear me the first time. Lord, please dry up the water.” And he goes and looks again and there is still water there. And he says, “Well, I have asked You twice now, Lord. I will ask You again, because I have to pray without ceasing, so I have to be persistent with my prayers. Please dry up the water.” And he goes to look, and the water is still there. Noah was in the ark over a year. How long would this have gone on if he were to have taken this approach?
What is faith? “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1. It is the substance of things hoped for. It is the proof of things which you cannot see.
Real faith would be if you ask the Lord to solve a problem—and even though you cannot see the answer, you know that He is solving the problem. You cannot see it; you cannot hear it. Nothing seems to be different, so do we doubt? No! Faith will be carrying through—even when it cannot see the evidence, because faith in itself is the evidence.
That is very important to remember in our personal life when we have a problem, because we tend to get discouraged when that problem is not solved immediately and according to the way we want it solved. So we start to doubt, “Maybe it is not God’s will. Maybe He did not hear my prayer. Maybe something else is the problem.” We lack faith because we are so shortsighted that we need to see the evidence. Real faith is the evidence.
If we look at the experience of Thomas in John 20:24–29, we have more of an appreciation of what it means to have faith without seeing the evidence. “But Thomas, one of the twelve, call Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Thomas lacked faith. He could not believe without seeing the evidence, without touching—without having the substance there for him to touch.
Jesus said blessed are they who believe, who do not see the evidence—who do not have the substance, but have faith because they don’t need the evidence. They don’t need the substance.
When we have faith in God’s Word and have laid our cares upon Him—knowing that He is going to take care of this problem—there is nothing I can do about it. I have laid it upon Him. He cares for me and He will take care. And I have total faith in the Lord—what happens then? Are we stressed? Are we worried? No, we have peace. We have peace in our heart. In John 14:27, Jesus said: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Again it is talking about the heart and fear.
Jesus is saying that His peace is different to the peace of the world. What is the peace of the world? How does the world view a peaceful life? A life without trouble. To the person of the world, a life without trouble is a peaceful life. What is the peace of Jesus? The peace that Jesus gives us—is it a life without trouble? Is that the peace that He is giving us? No. There is going to be plenty of trouble. The peace that Jesus gives us is a peace in spite of trouble.
My mind goes back to a story that was told when I was a boy, and it was about a competition. Various artists were told to portray peace in a painting. And when the entrants brought along their masterpieces, the first one was a tranquil lake. It was just at sundown. The water was calm, like a mirror. There were a few reeds growing there, and it was so quiet and still.
And a second person brought along a similar picture, where everything was quiet and still. A third person brought along a painting of the ocean in the middle of a storm. The wind was blowing a gale. The waters—huge waves were crashing on a rock, and there was lightning. It was a tremendous storm. And on this rock there was a little hollow, just a little cave, and there was a tiny bird fast asleep. He had peace.
Can you see the difference between the peace of the world and the peace of God? The peace of the world is when there is no trouble. The peace of God comes even though there is trouble. We can trust in Him, just as the bird could trust in the safety of this rock.
There is a song entitled “The God of the Mountain.” The words are interesting:
“Life is easy when you’re up on the mountain and you have peace of mind like you have never known. But when things change and you are down in the valley, do not lose hope; you are never alone. We talk of faith when we are up on the mountain, but talk is cheap when life is at its best. But in the valley of trials and temptations, that is where faith is really put to the test. For the God of the mountain is still God in the valley. When things go wrong, He will make them right. And the God in the good times is still God in the bad times. The God of the day is still God in the night.”
We can trust in the Lord. Even though there are trials and troubles and problems in our life, He is still the Lord. He is still God, and He still cares for us. So we have this peace of mind, not like the world has peace. We have the real peace that only Jesus can give us. Even when circumstances are unfavorable, we have peace.
Isaiah 26: 3, 4 tell us why we have this peace: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.”
In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. The marginal reading says that everlasting strength is also translated as “the rock of ages.” Remember the little sparrow in the rock in the storm in the ocean? How many storms has that rock been through? It is the rock of ages.
When we put ourselves in the arms of Jesus, we are placing ourselves in the Rock of Ages, the everlasting strength. He can weather any storm. He can fix any problem. Do we need to worry? No.
In reality the only time that we need to worry is when we know that we have to do something about the problem and we are too scared to do it. But if we do our part—if we do what we have to do and then trust in the Lord, He will do the rest. We will not have to be worried. We will not have to fear and our heart will not fail us.
May the Lord help us to have this trust in Him, declaring, by His grace, “It is well with my soul.” This is stress management. This is what will help us to be overcomers, to have good health, and to prosper.