Happy Monday everyone,
Today is the kickoff of our new series called “I’m So Over It!” This series aims to tackle the four ways we experience overwhelm. Put a mental checkmark on the one(s) that you can relate to. We’ll address one of these each week with scriptural wisdom:
- Overthinking – Trying to control situations with our thinking, but unable to make decisions
- Overfunctioning – Taking on people and things we’re not responsible for
- Obsessing – Fixing our expectations on a specific outcome
- Overloaded – Shouldering more than we can handle
Let me add this: There’s nothing wrong or sinful in experiencing overwhelm. There’s no need to beat ourselves up or feel ashamed. However, when we know we’re struggling, that’s when we must realize that God is trying to get our attention. God promises freedom, but our part is to allow God to work in us because far too many of us are holding on to things God has never asked us to carry.
TODAY’S TOPIC: OVERTHINKING!
Do you overthink? Not sure? Here’s a fun, but helpful temperature check. Count how many apply to you – and feel free to hit reply and tell me your score. Note…please don’t overthink this exercise. Make sure to keep reading for today’s teaching!
Today, let’s look at the story of an Old Testament man that I consider an overthinker in the Bible by the name of Gideon. The words “overthinker” or “overthinking” are not specifically mentioned in his story. However, as we focus on Gideon’s story, he’s rocking an overthinking vibe, for sure!
You can read Gideon’s story in Judges 6. We’re introduced to his situation before we meet him. The Israelites are in the Promised Land, and their leader Joshua is dead. Sadly, God’s people broke their promise to serve God with their whole hearts. So, God allowed attackers to go after the Israelites. Judges 6:6 sums up the dire nature of the situation:
So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help. -Judges 6:6 NLT
Afterward, God sent a prophet to tell the people that they’d messed up by worshiping other gods. He also set a rescue plan in motion. An angel (whom we’ll later see is God) visits a man named Gideon who is hiding in a winepress. Pay attention to how the angel greets Gideon and keep this in mind as we read Gideon’s later responses:
The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” -Judges 6:12 NLT
There are two important pieces of information in that greeting: First, Gideon is called a hero, and the angel says that God is with him. Now, at the time, this goes right over Gideon’s head. He is hiding in a winepress, trying to secure food that the Midianites can’t steal. Gideon also feels pretty sure that God has abandoned His people. We can see that Gideon is skeptical of the angel’s words because of the hardship.
Undaunted, the angel (who we learn is actually God) tells Gideon about the mission: he will rescue Israel from the Midianites. Best of all, the angel assures Gideon that no special skills are required:
Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” -Judges 6:14 NLT
God’s words should have made Gideon excited! Here was a chance for a powerless Gideon to set out with God’s power to free the Israelites. Instead of climbing out of the winepress and shouting “Let’s gooooo,” Gideon had a “But.”
“But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” -Judges 6:15 NLT
God gave Gideon a promise and Gideon’s first word back to God was a “but.” Sometimes, “but” is a polite way of saying, “nope.” God has told the man to go, and Gideon’s brain spit out not one but TWO reasons that God’s promises couldn’t be true.
WHAT’S YOUR “BUT, GOD?”
How many of us struggle to trust what we read about God in the Bible? We second-guess God’s unconditional love or His promises to forgive. Some of you who believe in God’s love or grace at 99%. It’s true for you 99% of the time, but there’s that 1% that you’re not sure about. So you question it, you’re anxious about it, which means you never fully rest in it.
Here’s what I’ve learned about overthinking…Often, the roots of our constant rethinking stretch back to our younger years, when we tried to figure out how to meet our needs for safety, love, or belonging. We spent those years paying attention to what drew attention, what was rewarded, or what we needed to avoid. So, we became pros at scrutinizing every single detail.
What made us feel safe as kids can make it challenging to trust God as an adult. We’re so used to picking apart, second-guessing, or being skeptical that we struggle with trusting God. We pick up our Bibles, we look at verses about God’s love, grace, or the promise of His presence, and we have our own “But God” issues.
Look at the first five words of God’s response to Gideon’s overthinking error:
The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.” -Judges 6:16 NLT
Once again, God assures Gideon that He will be with him. God promised Himself. I will be with you. It’s the same promise we experience in the Person of Jesus Christ, our Emmanuel, which is that God is with us. For all of the reasons why Gideon didn’t think success was possible, God reminded him that those reasons didn’t matter because God was with him.
I encourage you to read Gideon’s story in Judges 6. After a few more false starts, Gideon finally set out on the campaign to rescue God’s people. But, Gideon kept asking God for reassurance that he was on the right track. He kept coming up with reasons that kept him from believing God’s promise to be with him.
Can you relate?
A CHALLENGE FOR A DIFFERENT KIND OF OVERTHINKING!
Instead of overthinking negative thoughts, catastrophizing, or trying to control, I’d like to challenge you to think differently. It’s time to drop our “but’s” and fully embrace what God says is true. Here’s the challenge: What if we committed to overthinking God’s presence and His provision?
If we’re overthinking other things, then we’re underthinking God. Let’s flip that! When we’re overthinking God, we’re fixed and focused on God’s presence and power. Here’s a short list of what that means for me and you:
God promises peace in every situation. (Philippians 4:7)
God promises grace upon grace. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
He promises strength to endure. (Romans 5:3-5)
He promises divine wisdom when it’s needed. (James 1:5)
God promises unconditional love. (Romans 8:39)
Who’s going to overthink God with me this week? I dare you to try it! Whenever you catch yourself puzzling over a conversation, text message, big problem or frustration, shift to my list about God’s promise to be with you and overthink that.
For me, overthinking shows up most often in situations where I feel out of control or where I’m feeling rejected. So, overthinking about God in those situations replaces my fears and sadness with God’s peace and His love. That feels way better than all those negative thoughts!
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
If you’re an overthinker, this isn’t a switch you can flip off without God’s help. Here are some spiritual practices that I’ve done and God’s Spirit helped me to let go of a lot of overthinking:
- God Morning/God Night Technique – This is easy! Write five promises of God on a notecard and set it by your bed. (I also taped a card to my bathroom mirror.) Read those promises each morning and each night to train your mind to meditate on God, not your problems. Here’s a resource on this.
- Journaling – Writing down your thoughts helps you notice where you’re overthinking and where you need to invite God in to help you stop fixing things in your mind.
- Ask yourself these clarifying questions: Is this a situation or problem that I need to solve right now? Is this my problem to solve, or do I need to surrender it to God?
I’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! What was your score on the “Are You An Overthinker”? You can leave a comment and let me know. If you need to let God work on your overthinking this week, just message me with “Overthinker” and I can pray with you this week.
Read the Entire Series: God, I'm So Over It! Letting Go of Things That God Never Asked You to Carry
Week Two: Hope for Those Who Do Too Much!
