Life is meant to be more than just coping …

All of us have faced times in our lives that were so troubled we had to cope with difficulties before we found answers and moved forward.

Coping can be tough and painful!

But God intended for our lives to be more than an experience of perpetual coping. Jesus spoke to this when He provided us with a very realistic perspective for our lives with these words …

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world,” John 16:33.

Jesus really does want more for us than a life so mired with trials that we spend all our days just trying to cope with problems …

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life,” John 10:10.

One of the benefits of being both a minister and a clinical therapist is that, in counseling, I can help people understand several coping mechanisms that we often adopt during tough times in our lives (such as repression, denial, rationalization, or projection, to reaction formation, displacement, altruism, humor, and so on …). Some of these coping mechanisms are positive, several are negative. But as a minister, I can also share with people how the Bible is full of “spiritual coping mechanisms,” spiritual insights for not only coping with life’s difficulties, but for overcoming them as well.

Jay Kesler tells a great story, as follows …

“There are two ways of handling pressure. One is illustrated by a bathysphere, the miniature submarine used to explore the ocean in places so deep that the water pressure would crush a conventional submarine like an aluminum can. Bathyspheres compensate with plate steel several inches thick, which keeps the water out but also makes them heavy and hard to maneuver. Inside they’re not alone. When their lights are turned on and you look through the tiny, thick plate-glass windows, what do you see? Fish! These fish cope with extreme pressure in an entirely different way. They don’t build thick skins; they remain supple and free. They compensate for the outside pressure through equal and opposite pressure inside themselves. Christians, likewise, don’t have to be hard and thick-skinned — as long as they appropriate God’s power within to equal the pressure without.”

The Bible helps us know how we can “appropriate God’s power within to equal the pressure without,” or how we can not only cope, but thrive! There are so many of these simple “spiritual coping mechanisms” in scripture it would take more work and space than we have here. But let’s look at some random scriptures and see how they provide us direction for coping with life’s challenges and trials …

2 Timothy 1:7 helps us remember we’re not powerless or helpless – “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”

Philippians 4:6-7 helps us move away from striving in anxiety – “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

1 John 1:9 brings us to the topic of confession – “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” Not all our problems are caused from sin, but many are. When that’s the case, we’ll never move forward until we confess our sins to God. When David tried to hide his sins regarding his adultery with Bathsheba, it became a “soul crushing” experience for him that he could not cope with. Confession freed him … “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.” Psalm 32:1-5.

2 Timothy 3:16 helps us know where we can find answers to the issues we’re trying to cope with – “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”

Sin is the ultimate source of our problems that leave us trying to cope with brokenness. Psalm 119:11 provides insight for avoiding sin – “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

We create many of our own problems by harboring desires that we should not have. Instead of flailing along in life just trying to cope from the consequences of fostering and feeding inappropriate desires, what we need to do is change our desires! – “Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death,” James 1:14-15.

When we let our thinking roam, we get into trouble! Kinds of trouble we really can’t cope with. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 states, “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.” Some versions interpret this as our needing to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” We can’t begin to cope, or overcome, until we reign in our wandering thinking. Better yet, Paul instructs us this way: “Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes,” Ephesians 4:23.

Scripture helps us understand we shouldn’t even attempt to cope with some problems but should, instead, run from them! – “Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body,” 1 Corinthians 6:18.

We find ourselves coping when we don’t have the answers to immediately become free. To be able to understand truth, we need to develop a truly intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. – “When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others,” 1 Corinthians 2:13-15. Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future,” John 16:13.

To function within the Kingdom of God is to thrive, and to attempt to cope outside of it is to strive. We need to make sure we really are functioning within the Kingdom of God – “Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,[a] you cannot see the Kingdom of God,'” John 3:3.

We haven’t begun to scratch the surface of how the Bible provides all the wisdom, truth, and answers we need to discover and live that satisfying life Jesus said He wants for us instead of a life of just trying to cope. However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be times for all of us when we won’t have to cope for a while until, with God’s help, we overcome our trials and tribulations.

For all of you who are coping with something tough today, let me offer you one more nugget from scripture: “Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light,’” Matthew 11:28-30.

Scotty