It is easy to feel overwhelmed by what you are facing. Sometimes life hands us things that feel too heavy, too much to handle. We are not the first. Let's begin by looking at a little Bible history.

The Prophet Jeremiah prophesied for about forty years, warning backslidden Israel that disaster was coming if they didn't repent. As he wrote these letters, King Zedekiah burned them and ignored him. 

Jeremiah's warnings made many people unhappy, and he was sometimes beaten and thrown into jail or a pit. Some of the people wanted to put him to death, and there were many false prophets who prophesied the exact opposite of what he said. 

Eventually, in 586 BC, as Jeremiah had prophesied, the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah, captured Jerusalem, and burned and pillaged the entire city and Solomon's temple. It was a horrible siege that lasted between 18 and 30 months until the inhabitants of Jerusalem starved, and some turned to cannibalism and began eating their children. It was a low point for God's people—dark, desperate, and devastating.

After the city of Jerusalem was captured, Nebuchadnezzar carried most of the people into exile and took them to Babylon, including Daniel. Then the Babylonians returned and razed the city. Jeremiah had prophesied this destruction for decades, and the people wouldn't listen. However, the LORD already had a plan for restoration.

(Jeremiah 29:10-14 NKJV)  For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

Isaiah prophesied over a century earlier that a man named Cyrus would command that Jerusalem be rebuilt, and the temple foundation laid again. This was long before the city was destroyed by the Babylonians, and 150 years before Cyrus was born.

(Isaiah 44:28 NKJV)  Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, "You shall be built," And to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid." '

In 539 BC, a man named "Cyrus the Great" captured Babylon. A year later, he allowed the exiled Jews to return home and begin rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple, as Isaiah had prophesied (Ezra 1:1). Cyrus appointed Zerubbabel governor of Judah, and he and Jeshua, the high priest, began rebuilding the Second Temple around 536 BCE. They laid the foundation for the second temple in Jerusalem, probably on the site of Solomon's temple, which had been destroyed.

At the time, Jerusalem had been reduced to a giant pile of rubble, so the project felt overwhelming. The inhabitants of the land, Samaritans, offered to help build the temple and be part owners, but they were pagans and worshiped foreign gods, and the returning Jews refused to work with them. So, the spurned Samaritans began to frustrate their work and to threaten and intimidate them. They sent letters to the Persian rulers over the land saying that the Jews were planning a rebellion. So they sent a decree ordering the work on the temple to stop.

King Cyrus passed away, and his son took over. Then another followed him. Years bled into decades until King Darius the Great came to power. He searched through the old royal records, found Cyrus's original decree, and ordered that the temple in Jerusalem finally be completed.

The temple foundation that had been laid had been stuck in red tape and surrounded by enemies for about 16 years. The excitement around the project was long gone. The people who had begun working on it years earlier had moved on to other things or passed on. The new temple was nowhere near as elaborate as the temple of Solomon that had been destroyed.

The Ark of the Covenant, the Urim and Thummim, the holy oil, the sacred fire, the tables of stone, the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod were lost during the Babylonian destruction. Some people wept when they saw it (Ezra 3:12). Still, it was a massive project. During this time, an angel appeared to Zechariah the Prophet and told him this:

(Zechariah 4:6 NKJV) So he answered and said to me: "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Says the LORD of hosts.

They would finish the temple. Not by might nor power, but by His Spirit. From the first deportation to the completion of the second temple, 70 years passed. The construction of the second temple at Jerusalem had been stalled for 15 years. Then they resumed work on the temple and completed it in the spring of 516 BC, twenty years after returning from captivity. 

The people surrounding them were their enemies, threatening to kill them. At times, the builders had to work with one hand and hold a spear in the other, or have armed guards watch in shifts, but with His Spirit's help, they completed the hard work.

We do our part, and He takes care of what we can't. It is still work and not always easy. His Spirit works unseen in the background and inside of us. God can move and remove kings if necessary. He can clear the way for His work to be done. There is nothing, there is no one, that can stand in His way.

No one can stop His plans. Everything is done through His Spirit working through us. Our hands and feet do the work, but His Spirit guides, inspires, strengthens, provides, protects, and makes the right things fall into place at the right time.

Jesus was a carpenter by trade, and He understood hard work. He said:

(Matthew 6:34 NKJV)  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

We often tackle pretty large projects here, at least for us. When praying about them, I have heard the Holy Spirit whisper:

"How do you read a novel? - One page at a time." 

That is the key when you begin to feel overwhelmed. Stop borrowing trouble from tomorrow and concentrate on what is in front of you. Don't worry about the entire book; concentrate on the paragraph. Let the Holy Spirit help you. Stop and ask Him for advice. You are not in this alone. And when tomorrow comes, fresh grace will come with it.

You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please guide me and speak to me in a way that I understand. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and cover me with Your peace. Help me take on the mind of Christ, who could sleep peacefully during the storm. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.