I’m Over It
By Grant Gaines
America was still mending her wounds from the Great Depression in 1938 when a relatively tiny race horse with a predominately uneventful career up to that point busted on the scene. “Seabiscuit” quickly won several races in a row which caused him to capture the hearts of the American people who saw so many similarities between themselves and the horse that was often overlooked but never threw in the towel.
Seabiscuit’s fame reached an all-time high on November 1, 1938 when the owner of the longtime Derby favorite “War Admiral” challenged Seabiscuit to a one on one race – winner take all.
War Admiral was by far and away the favorite in this contest because he had better size, speed, and stamina over the modest Seabiscuit. War Admiral also had the advantage because one on one horse races typically favor the horse with better speed out of the gate, which of course, as you can probably guess, was more often than not War Admiral.
Seabiscuit was too short, too small, and too slow. But the two things that Seabiscuit did have in his favor was an immeasurable passion to win and an undying hatred to lose.
As the race began, Seabiscuit surprisingly sped out to the front and led War Admiral for much of the first half of the race. However, as many expected, the race-favorite War Admiral slowly but surely ate away at Seabiscuit’s lead and eventually overcame him as the horses started to round the final turn.
Though he may have been out of breath, out of energy, and out of his mind to most onlooking fans, Seabiscuit never was out of hope. Instead, the underdog horse did what fairy tales are made of – he kicked it into 5th gear and pulled away from War Admiral down the final stretch to win the amazing “David vs. Goliath” type race as well as the hearts of Americans.
We all love a good underdog story, don’t we? There’s just something so special and nostalgic about seeing someone overcome such strong odds to win the victor’s crown. We all love a good underdog story, unless of course, we are in the middle of an underdog story with all the odds stacked against us.
And thanks to all of the hectic conditions in this life, doesn’t it seem like we’re almost always pinned into a corner by difficult circumstances and forced to play the role of an underdog? The bills are high, the work days are long, relationships can often seem demanding, the government and economy keep becoming more and more unstable, kids have more activities to go to now than ever before, and busyness seems to be the new “normal.”
With all of these circumstances stacked against us, only one word can accurately portray the feelings so many Christians are feeling these days: “overwhelmed.” Overwhelmed with work, overwhelmed with kids, overwhelmed with bills, overwhelmed with whatever. With so many people feeling overwhelmed, we need answers and we need a solution to rescue us from this paralyzing feeling. Fortunately for us, we find this answer at the middle of Luke 22.
Jesus has just finished the Last Supper with His disciples and had made His way to the Garden of Gethsemane as our story today picks up. If you want to talk about feeling overwhelmed, look no further than Christ who was merely hours away from completing the task He was born to achieve – to be brutally beaten and hung upon a cross to die for the sins of the world. Jesus wasn’t worried about paying off an earthly debt, but an eternal debt. And this eternal debt didn’t just cost Jesus a pretty penny. Rather, 1 Peter 1:19 (NIV) says that the price to pay off this debt was, “the precious blood of Jesus Christ….”
Certainly, as you could imagine, Jesus was overwhelmed. In fact, Luke 22:42 tells us that Jesus begged God to take this painful situation away from Him and Luke 22:44 (NLT) goes so far to say that, “[Jesus] prayed more fervently, and He was in such agony of spirit that His sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.” Have you ever been that overwhelmed?
The cool thing about this story is that it answers the question for us, “Is it ok to be overwhelmed in this life?” The answer to that question is a resounding “YES!” Even Jesus was overwhelmed. However, the story answers an even more important question, “How are we to respond when we feel overwhelmed?”
You see, Jesus was certainly overwhelmed, but what did He do after praying that prayer? Did He give up? Did He run and ride? Did He mope around with His head hung low? No, not at all! Rather Jesus, though He was overwhelmed, continued to walk in obedience to the Father’s will. He was overwhelmed, but He was not overcome.
What a great truth for us to take to heart when we walk through life’s difficult seasons – it’s ok to be overwhelmed, but not to be overcome. It’s fine to feel the weight of life’s demands as long as you don’t shut down but continue to faithfully walk in the calling the Lord has given you. It’s fine to feel pressure, just don’t let that pressure destroy you. It’s fine to feel weariness, just don’t let that weariness cause you to crumble.
Do you know why we shouldn’t let life overcome us? Because Romans 8:37 (NIV) tells us that we are, “…more than conquerors…” over our circumstances. Notice that the verse doesn’t tell us that we are “victims” UNDER our circumstances, but that we are “conquerors” OVER them. A conqueror isn’t controlled by anything because he is victorious over all his foes. In the same way, we shouldn’t allow our circumstances to control us, but rather, we should control our outlook towards our circumstances. We should never allow our feelings of being overwhelmed to overcome us.
Sometime you need to look at the difficult situations in life and victoriously exclaim, “I’m over it!” I’m over my bills. I’m over my floundering marriage. I’m over my pesky boss. I’m over my demanding school schedule. I’m over my learning disability. I’m over my mean friends. I’m over it!
Are you living as a victim or a conqueror?
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.
We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.
We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God.
We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.”
– 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (NLT)
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©Grant Gaines 2016