Ever heard of stress dots? They’re little pressure-sensitive dots that you place on your hand. As adrenaline levels change in your body, it affects your skin temperature. The dots react to this by changing colour to indicate that you might be under stress. Wouldn’t it be great if we had a tiny internal warning light that informed us every time our focus was off the Lord? Or if we had a small beep or signal light that cautioned us we were out of tune with God? Actually, we do! It’s better known as tension.

Becoming tense is a sure sign that we’ve taken our eyes off the God and set them on circumstances. It shows that we’re looking at the problem rather than the solution. And when we do that, we’re definitely going to get tense. Tension can be God’s way of saying, ‘Get your focus in line: look at Me.’ The Bible says, ‘You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!’ We have the choice of focusing on our troubles or focusing on the One who holds the answer to them.

Corrie ten Boom wrote: ‘The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the word of God. If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at God, you’ll be at rest.’ It’s what we concentrate on that decides our amount of peace. So when problems come, focus on God’s presence; He is with you, and He has promised that He will never leave you (see Hebrews 13:5).

What Now?

If you notice yourself getting tense at any time today, try to use that feeling as your personal alarm that you need to talk to God about the situation you’re in or whatever’s on your mind.