Come to Jesus, All Those Who Feel Overwhelmed by Work

Many scenarios could make the seasonal burdens of work feel overwhelming—think of an accountant in April, a teacher in August, or a pastor in December. But our work can also feel overwhelming on a more mundane level. A full email inbox, a big project, or even the regular daily grind can leave us tired and discouraged. What does God offer in the Bible when I’m feeling overwhelmed by work?

One definition of “overwhelm” is “[to] bury or drown beneath a huge mass.” While our work might feel like a huge mass we’re buried or drowning beneath, God tells us in Scripture, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you” (Isa. 43:2).

We also know we’re “afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor. 4:8–9).

So while we may feel overwhelmed, we can remind ourselves that since we belong to Christ, we aren’t actually buried or drowned.

Questions to Ask

Let’s consider a few questions to determine what’s leading us to feel overwhelmed.

1. Are we taking on more than is ours to take?

We may not have control over what our leaders assign as our responsibilities, but we do have control over what job we agree to take in the first place, how we communicate our capacity, and what we choose not to take on beyond our role.

Do we count the cost of duties, responsibilities, and travel expectations before committing to a position? Have we taken opportunities to be humbly transparent about our heavy workload or long hours so our leaders might consider deprioritizing certain initiatives or sharing our responsibilities with another teammate? Are there other areas—our time in the Word, our investment in family, or our community building—that we need to make room for too?

Since we belong to Christ, we aren’t actually buried or drowned.

Besides evaluating our schedule and to-do lists, have we also evaluated our hearts? Are we trusting God’s sovereignty over all we cannot control, like economic trends, world events, leadership moves, and other people’s reactions to our work?

Or perhaps sin has crept in. Have we taken on work beyond our responsibility, potentially because delegation would jeopardize our idol of control? Or because, in our pride, we’re anxious that others wouldn’t perform as well as we would? If so, we’d do well to heed Jethro’s advice to his son-in-law Moses: The work was too heavy for Moses to handle alone, but if he allowed others who were capable, trustworthy, and honest to share it, the strain would be easier and the output would serve others better in the end (Ex. 18:18–23).

We can look to God for wisdom in defining our portion of responsibilities and the boundary lines of our work, relinquishing control of others’ assignments, and trusting him to carry what only he can.

2. Are we placing our identity in work?

Sometimes we look to our work for a sense of worth and acceptance we’re only meant to find in Jesus. Have we become obsessed with our pursuit of a promotion, a higher salary, or public recognition as we seek our own glory? Have we allowed work to take too high a priority in our lives relative to all other roles to which God has called us in our families, churches, and communities?

It’s true we were created for good works prepared for us in advance, but we’re to walk in these works from our identity as God’s workmanship, glorifying the One who created us rather than ourselves as creators or anything we create (Eph. 2:10).

When we place our identity in the shaky and uncontrollable aims of our own success, commendations, and achievements, the fear of falling short (as we inevitably will) can weigh us down like sandbags or catapult us into a cycle of anxious toil. Instead, we can anchor our purpose and worth in the reality that we serve God, not man, and that we look to the Lord always for our ultimate acceptance (Gal. 1:10).

3. Are we working wisely?

After defining the workload that’s rightly ours and seeking to work heartily as for the Lord and not for men (Col. 3:23), we can also consider whether we have opportunities to work more wisely.

• Can we seek to complete our work more efficiently? Can we better organize our to-do list or be more intentional and guarded with our schedule? Are we praying throughout the day for the strength, creativity, and discernment to work well?
• Can we look to others’ examples of producing reliable, quality work in a reasonable time? Can we learn about their approach to work and imitate their example?
• Can we resist unworthy distractions during working hours, such as social media, team gossip, news scrolling, office grumbling, or personal tasks? Are they robbing us of the hours that would otherwise be sufficient for completing the work? Do we even need to set aside our phone or email inbox for a brief time to focus more fully on our tasks?
• Are some of our shortcomings—such as complaining, worrying, exaggerating, treating people poorly, or idolizing others’ approval—creating more work for us along the way? Have we instead asked the Lord for wisdom to react, communicate, relate, and lead for his glory?

Ultimately, we need supernatural wisdom to work with efficiency and effectiveness in the tasks before us—wisdom to discern the right choices that save us later corrections, wisdom to see and draw out the gifts the Lord has given those around us, wisdom to leverage the resources around us for higher productivity, and wisdom to prioritize what most deserves our attention as we go about the day.

Without that wisdom, we may become like a dull axe, our tasks requiring far more effort, attempts, and frustration—and leaving us far more overwhelmed—than they need to (Eccl. 10:10).

4. Are we working under Jesus’s light burden and easy yoke?

When we feel overwhelmed by work, we’d do best to take Jesus up on his offer to the weary and heavy-laden—that of rest from work and an easy yoke and light burden for work.

We need supernatural wisdom to work with efficiency and effectiveness in the tasks before us.

This promise beckons us to work in a way that isn’t overwhelmed by the insufficiency of our own strength and ability to meet work’s demands, but in a way that relies on God’s power working in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9), his promise to give wisdom to those who ask (James 1:5), his new mercies every morning (Lam. 3:23), and his commitment to daily bear us up (Ps. 68:19).

One practical way to do this is through weekly Sabbath rest, even in our overwhelming seasons. We do this not only as stewards of our health for the kingdom but in dependence on the God who rested from his creation work and promises to work even when we’re obediently still (Ex. 14:14).

Work as It Was Designed to Be

As we seek to reflect—through our work—the One who works for us, we can look to him to allot our portion of work, anchor our identity in him, equip us with wisdom, and shoulder the overwhelming weight of all that only he can carry.

In this way, we can demonstrate how God designed work to be before the fall—an opportunity to walk in fellowship with him, laboring to see his kingdom come and will be done on earth as it is in heaven, in reliance on and for the glory of the King (Matt. 6:10).