Bandon First Baptist

06/04/2026

06/04/2026

Peace . . . in Spite of Panic

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD God is the eternal Rock. (Isaiah 26:3–4)

June 4, 2026
By Pastor Chuck Swindoll
I invite you to focus your full attention on one of the rarest of all virtues. It is a virtue that everybody pursues, but very few possess on a regular basis. I’m referring to the often-longed-for but seldom-found virtue of peace.

Peace—something that is needed between nations just as badly as it is needed between neighbors. We are a warring people. Deep down underneath our placid plastic cover we are fighters. Most people don’t live at peace with themselves, so it stands to reason we don’t live peacefully with others. We are basically critical and intolerant. We are in an endless wrestling match with insecurity, a lack of confidence, a struggle with a purpose and place in life, and the pursuit of freedom from worry and anxiety. That’s true among Christians as well as non-Christians. How very few live a life that is calm, deliberate, free from anxiety.

Tucked away in the twenty-sixth chapter of Isaiah are two verses we need to dust off every once in a while—verses 3 and 4.

I’d like you to take note not only of what these verses are saying, but also of what they mean to you personally. I want to draw my remarks from the colorful Hebrew language, which is the original text of Isaiah 26:3–4. Remember, the prophet is not writing about international peace. He’s talking about an individual at peace with himself, with God, and with others. Let’s take a closer look at those two verses.

The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,
Because he trusts in You.
Trust in the LORD forever,
For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock. (Isaiah 26:3–4)

Steadfast is from a term that means “to lean, to rest, to support.” It’s the idea of being sustained as a result of leaning on something supporting you. The words “of mind” come from one verb that means “to frame” or “to fashion, to form.” In the original Hebrew language, this particular construction has the idea of “a frame of mind.”

If you put the two thoughts together, they convey this: “A frame of mind that is receiving support from leaning and therefore is being sustained.” That brings us to the main verb, will keep. The term means “to guard from danger, to watch over.” It is so rendered in Isaiah 42:6.

The frame of mind that is being supported as a result of leaning: You, Lord, will watch over with “shalom, shalom.” Not literally “perfect peace,” but “peace, peace.” In the Hebrew, a term was repeated for emphasis. So here the idea is of an unending security, a sense of uninterrupted, perpetual rest and calmness. It doesn’t come from some human being. According to the prophet’s words, it comes from the God upon whom the person leans.

How does God know when to give us that rest? Well, it says in verse 3, because we trust in Him. In the Arabic (occasionally closely related to the Hebrew), the term for trust has a very picturesque meaning: “to throw one’s self down upon one’s face.”

I think of a trampoline when I think of that imagery. I think of jumping up and down and letting all of my weight fall in an almost relaxed manner on a trampoline. You can just feel yourself bouncing off that stretched-out piece of thick vinyl.

The thought here is that you abandon all other crutches you could lean on, and place all of your anxiety, all of your being, and all of your circumstances on the only One who can support you.

Can He support? Good question. Read on . . . it says that He is an everlasting Rock. Now it would hurt us to fall on a large, solid rock. But it’s not the idea of falling you must remember. It’s the idea of leaning. It’s the thought of leaning on something that will be perpetually supportive, solid enough to sustain your weight.

Putting all the above together, the paraphrase would read like this: “A frame of mind that is receiving support from leaning and, therefore, is being sustained, You, Lord, will watch over with infinite calm. Because he leans fully and relies upon You and none other, You, Lord God, are the everlasting support.”

This is the scene of a tranquil, restful mind in spite of circumstances. What a marvelous, limitless promise!

I recently came across Isaiah 26:3–4 and am I glad I did! It’s been a sustaining force and source of strength in my own life, particularly during a recent week I endured. What a week! I hardly know how to describe it. There won’t be another like it. (Hear that, Lord?) Maybe I should pray, Let there be no other! There were disappointments. There were jolts. There were surprises. There were family illnesses. There were constant demands.

But behind the scenes . . . there was a great measure of peace in my heart. Yes, there were times when I became anxious. Three or four times I was really anxious, but for the most part, when I claimed the truth and entered into a personal experience of verses 3 and 4, there was a distinct difference. When I said, “Lord, I consciously now lean on You and abandon all of my strength for this situation,” He held me up.

This is not merely print from a page in the Bible. This is a biblical principle that works in the trenches of life. It begs to be applied. It reaches out from the page with long arms and stretching hands, saying, “Take me. I’m yours, Christian, please take hold of me. You have to claim me.” That’s what I want you to do as a result of reading this Scripture passage and today’s devotional.

This devotional is part one in a four-part series.

06/03/2026

What the Bible Says ~

06/03/2026

Shifting the Stress by Prayer and Rest

So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. (Hebrews 4:9–10)

June 3, 2026
By Pastor Chuck Swindoll
Hebrews 4:1–11
If you tend to get caught up in the hurry-worry sindrome, there is a better way to live. In Parts One through Three we talked about some strategies for alleviating stress. Prayer is another relief—an essential therapy during stressful times. I’m reminded of David on one occasion. He and a group of his men returned home after a weary three-day journey. They found that while they were away, an enemy tribe had made a raid on their homes and had burned them to the ground. On top of that, their wives and children had been taken captive by the enemy. It wasn’t very long before their morale hit bottom.

Then David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. (1 Samuel 30:4)
What stress! To make matters even worse, mutiny broke out. The men spoke of stoning David because they were embittered against him. They indirectly blamed their leader for what was happening (that still goes on, by the way). We read of David’s response:

Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. (v. 6)
In the depth of discouragement and the height of stress, “David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.” He got alone and prayed. He shifted the pressure from his own shoulders to Jehovah’s. He knew that the stress was too big a load for him to carry alone, so he “trusted in the Lord with all his heart,” and God immediately began to push away the obstacles (see Proverbs 3:5–6).

Entering Into Rest

We’ve discussed overcoming worry by leaning totally and consistently on the Lord, refusing to rely on our own strength and ingenuity. We’ve talked about delegating your work loads that produce anxiety. We’ve also considered the value of prayer; simply calling on God for relief and wisdom. These are essential techniques in keeping ourselves out from under the weight of anxiety.

But there is one more scriptural insight on stress that isn’t mentioned very often. It has to do with cultivating a lifestyle characterized by rest—a mental and emotional rest, virtually free of the tyranny of the urgent.

The biblical basis of this inner rest is found in Hebrews 4, a chapter that has its roots in the Old Testament:

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest . . . (vv. 1–3a)
The Rest Available Today

The Hebrew people, to whom these words were originally addressed, understood that the writer had their forefathers in mind . . . those people who came out of Egyptian captivity under Moses’ leadership. And what does he say of them? Look back at the verses you just read. The truth they heard “did not profit them.” Why? Because it remained merely truth—sterile, theological, unrelated information—unmixed with their faith. They heard about God’s provisions, they heard about how He would give them the Promised Land, but they didn’t take all of it personally. His truth and their faith remained two distinct and separate factors. They failed to enter into the rest He made available. They continued to operate on the basis of sight, which led them into fear, then stress, and finally open unbelief.

Does that mean there’s no more “rest” available for God’s people today? Quite the contrary.

There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:9–11)
God continues to hold out to all His children a peaceful, worry-free lifestyle that we can enter into on a moment-by-moment basis.

Will it happen automatically? No, we are instructed to “be diligent to enter that rest.” What does that mean? Simply this:

We acknowledge that our God is in full control of our lives. No accidents or surprises occur. He calls the shots.
We take Him at His Word. We believe His promises (the Bible is full of them—by the hundreds).
We claim them by faith. We apply them to our particular circumstance almost as if God were speaking directly to us this very moment.
We rest in Him. We consciously refuse to worry or fret over how He is going to work things out. By entering into that rest, we cease from our own works just as deliberately as our Creator-God ceased from His works on the seventh day of the creative week.
We continue in that calm frame of mind until God sovereignly intervenes and solves the problem. We keep trusting in Him with all our hearts. And every time an alien thought of anxiety flits through our minds, we turn it over to the Lord in prayer.
This is perhaps the best way to explain one of my favorite verses, Psalm 46:10:

Cease striving and know that I am God.
The marginal reference suggests the alternative rendering, “Let go, relax.” What a beautiful, refreshing thing it would be to see most of God’s people relaxing in Him! Really, thoroughly at peace as we lean on Him.

When are you going to do this, my friend?

That’s the key question.

This devotional is part four in a four-part series.

06/02/2026

Stress Reduction: Spreading Out the Workload

Moses' father-in-law said to him, "The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone." (Exodus 18:17–18)

June 2, 2026
By Pastor Chuck Swindoll
Exodus 18:13–27
We’ve been talking about the very common and very real problem of stress. Today I’d like to tackle a practical suggestion for stress-reduction: spreading out the workload.

There is a side of stress that is easily overlooked, and that is trying to do too much ourselves. All of us have a limit. If those huge freight trucks on the highway have a load limit, you can be sure each one of us does, too. When we try to do more than we were designed to do, our level of anxiety immediately begins to rise.

Moses is an example of one who fell into this very trap. He was surrounded by an endless number of needs, people, demands, requests for decisions, and problems to solve. On one occasion, his father-in-law, Jethro, paid him a visit and witnessed the load Moses was living under.

Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.” (Exodus 18:17–18)
The classic account of an ancient workaholic! This wise father-in-law comes right out and faces Moses with the truth: “It isn’t good . . . you’ll wear yourself out.” Jethro saw the whole thing objectively. He saw his son-in-law on the raw edge of exhaustion. The anxiety brought on by that much work would soon take a toll on Moses. He couldn’t continue doing it all alone.

Before we proceed, let me ask you: Does this sound like your biography? Are you the type who tends to take on too much . . . to handle the demands all alone . . . to hang in there without much thought of passing the load around? To quote Jethro’s counsel, “The thing that you are doing is not good.” Perhaps this is the bottom-line reason you’ve become so anxious in recent days. Be honest enough to admit it if it’s true. That’s the first (and most important) step in the process of change.

As Moses listened, Jethro continued:

“You shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain . . . . Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you . . . .”
So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. (vv. 21–24)
Moses was smart to listen. He was hearing the advice of a wise man. Now don’t misunderstand. The plan was not that he should back out of the scene completely. No, that wouldn’t have been best. His presence was still extremely valuable. But he was to determine those things he should handle—the really weighty issues—then pass around to qualified people the balance of the workload.

Did you notice that those who were to help him needed to be well qualified? Read again the specifics in verse 21:

Able men who fear God
Men of truth
Those who hate dishonest gain
Leader types
Had Moses chosen the wrong kind of delegates to help handle the workload, his stress would have increased, not decreased.

He did as Jethro had suggested:

Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. They judged the people at all times; the difficult dispute they would bring to Moses, but every minor dispute they themselves would judge. (Exodus 18:25–26)
This, no doubt, enabled him to have many more effective years of meaningful leadership. We would do well to follow his example.

But What about You?

The real issue, however, is not the anxiety of Moses. It is you and your stress. What is it that makes you think you are capable enough to handle more than you should? Why do you feel the need to continue living under the heavy weight of anxiety when it seems so natural to spread the work among several others?

I challenge you: Release your grip on all those details! Find a few qualified people to help you get the job done.

This same principle works when you are under the pressure of an intense trial in your life. No need to tough it out alone. Share it. Let a few people enter into that lonely experience with you. They can stand by you and provide an enormous amount of support, relieving much of the stress you would otherwise be enduring alone.

This devotional is part three of a four-part series.

06/01/2026

Overcoming Worry

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (Proverbs 3:5–6)

June 1, 2026
By Pastor Chuck Swindoll
In Part One, we looked at a couple of New Testament examples (one negative—Martha, the other positive—Jesus) of people under stress. Let’s now go back to the Old Testament and lift out some familiar words of hope to those clenched in the vise-grip of worry.

The following passage is so well known to most Christians that we have perhaps missed its significant message. Read slowly the words of Solomon:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5–6)
Go back and read these words again, please; this time aloud.

My Part, God’s Part

Let’s do a little digging. I’d like to suggest three important observations in what we just read.

First, there are four verbs—words of action—in these two verses:

trust
do not lean
acknowledge
make straight
A closer look will reveal the first three verbs are commands. They are directed to the child of God, the Christian. They represent our responsibility.

Trust . . . do not lean . . . acknowledge . . . .

The fourth verb is a promise. It declares God’s part in the transaction, His responsibility.

He will make your paths straight.

Putting this observation in the form of a simple diagram looks like this:

My Responsibility
Trust!
Do not lean!
Acknowledge!

God’s Promise
He will make straight . . .

A second observation: The same term is used no less than four times. Can you find it? Look again at the verses. Circle the word your. God is really emphasizing the personal nature of this truth. He is also telling us we must enter into it individually—no one else can apply it for us.

Your responsibility in your circumstances is to trust with all your heart . . . and to refuse to lean on your own understanding . . . acknowledging Him in all your ways . . . so that He might make straight your paths.

Get the picture? Responding to life’s situations is your choice. No one else can do it for you.

One final observation: The first phrase is linked to the last phrase, giving us the main idea. (Trust . . . He will make straight.) The two middle phrases merely amplify the main idea. (Do not lean . . . acknowledge.) Let me explain.

I am to trust in my Lord without hesitation and without reservation—with all my heart—so that He might step in and take control, making my way meaningful and straight. And what is involved in trusting with all my heart? Two particular decisions: one negative, the other positive.

Negatively, I am not to lean on my own understanding.
Positively, I am to acknowledge Him in the whole battleground.
The Swindoll Amplified Version

We’ve taken a deep look into these verses and examined the vital parts. Taking into account the meanings behind several significant terms, we can put the thought back together and see the whole picture in a new light.

Throw yourself completely upon the Lord—that is, cast all your present and future needs on Him who is your intimate Savior-God—finding in Him your security and safety. Do this with all your mind and feeling and will. In order to make this possible, you must refuse to support yourself upon the crutch of human ingenuity. Instead, recognize His presence and concern in each one of your circumstances. Then He (having taken full control of the situation) will thoroughly smooth out and straighten your paths, removing each obstacle along the way.
What a magnificent promise to all the “Marthas”—of both sexes—reading this devotional!

Applying Your Personalized Version

As I think all this through, several specific truths seem to bounce off the pages of Scripture:

This is a personal promise for anxiety-prone people to claim right now. God has preserved this statement just for you. Claim it!
God will do His part, but first we must do our part. He will keep His promise if we obey His commands. Keep in mind that our response to His commands precedes His part in the transaction.
God wants our total trust. Yes, total. Nothing held back. No games. No empty, pious-sounding words. No, He commands our absolute confidence.
There is no area which He is unable to handle. Did you note the twice-repeated “all”? God is a specialist in every circumstance. That includes yours. Today.
Since this promise is to be personally applied, how about filling in the blank with your current stress right now? Instead of reading:
. . in all your ways recognize Him, and He will smooth out your path, removing all obstacles.
you fill in the space:
. . in _______________________ recognize Him . . .
Right this moment, take that worry that is eating away at you like a rapidly growing cancer, and turn it over to Him as you write or envision it in that blank space. Refuse to brood over it any longer! Cast aside doubt and fear and leave it all with Him. Then stand back and watch Him work.

This devotional is part two of a four-part series.