What has you overwhelmed?

True story--I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and decided to google "overwhelmed by Christmas" in hopes that I would find some secret key to organization and getting everything done. I wasn't looking for an attitude adjustment, but that's just what I got.

As I was typing in my query, Google helped me with some pages popping up before I finished, and one of the items was a song by Big Daddy Weave called "Overwhelmed." Wow! The lyrics are great and very convicting. I started thinking about everything I have been feeling overwhelmed by (actually for over a year now), and I changed those thoughts to thinking about Who we should be overwhelmed by in a totally good way.

"I see the work of Your Hands, Galaxies spin in a Heavenly dance oh God, All that You are is so overwhelming"
We serve God, the Creator of the universe, the One who keeps everything running, and the One who is in ultimate control. We should be overwhelmed by His goodness, power, and notice of us.

"I hear the sound of Your Voice, All at once it’s a gentle and thundering noise oh God, All that You are is so overwhelming"
Who am I that God would speak to me? Yet He does time and time again through His word and His spirit. Why do I get more overwhelmed by what man says to me than what God says to me. His message to me is much better. Man has limited sight, but God, the omnipotent, all-powerful, omniscient one knows everything. What He says about me is more important than what man thinks.

"I delight myself in You, Captivated by Your beauty, I’m overwhelmed, I’m overwhelmed by You"
What am I delighting myself in? Do I need man's good opinion, or can I delight myself in knowing that I am pleasing Him? Am I captivated by His beauty and the beauty of what He is doing in me? Can I even see His beauty in my life? Am I living in gratitude--thankful for who He is? Or am I captivated by myself and my own selfish ambition?


"God, I run into Your arms, Unashamed because of mercy, I’m overwhelmed, I’m overwhelmed by You"
Where do I run when I am beaten and bruised? Do I run to safety in His arms, or do I rush to defend myself?  One is driven by being overwhelmed by God, and the other is driven by being overwhelmed by my own sinful pride.

"I know the power of Your Cross, Forgiven and free forever You’ll be my God"
Overwhelmed by forgiveness and freedom that can only come through the cross will keep me from being in bondage to pride, people's opinions, hurtful words, and my own self-destruction and will help me extend the same forgiveness to others.

"All that You’ve done is so overwhelming, I delight myself in You, In the Glory of Your Presence
I’m overwhelmed, I’m overwhelmed by You"
If I'm going to be overwhelmed by God, I will have to be in His presence. When I read about how He has worked in the past, I will be more confident in how He is working in the present.

I want to spend the rest of this Christmas season overwhelmed by God. I want to meditate on His goodness and not get sidetracked by busyness. At this time of year I should be overwhelmed by the fact that my Father sent His only begotten Son to this earth to live a sinful life and die a horrible death on a cross so that He could resurrect after three days and three nights so I could have eternal life with Him. I'm overwhelmed that God loves me that much.