Well, I sure have missed you! My laptop was down for a week, and I wasn’t able to just sit here and write! I’ve been jotting things on paper, and I am ready to go!!
If you remember, we had been looking at John 11 and going through different sections of the chapter in my John 11 Awards. We have gotten through the first one, The Most Puzzling Award, and have discussed Jesus’ timing and purpose for waiting two days to head to Bethany to assist Martha, and her sister, Mary, during a time of crisis.
Last time we personalized God’s grace as I discussed how this played out in my own personal crisis (see Your Life is a Tapestry). Before going on to the next award from John 11, I felt led to remain in ‘crisis mode’ for a couple of more weeks and deal with that particular topic a bit longer. I have been saving this particular segment for just the right moment, and I think this is the right moment.
Back in late January, right after I had posted, “Martha, Martha, Martha”, a friend posed a humorous, although deep, question. I jotted it down in my journal for future use.
As I did some research surrounding the particular question, I discovered that it could easily describe Martha’s dilemma in Luke 10, and now, I see it fits into her dilemma in John 11 as well. Martha was overwhelmed with “responsibilities” in Luke 10 and with circumstances in John 11.
My friend’s question? If it is so stressful to feel overwhelmed-should we desire to just be 'whelmed' instead? That got me thinking deeper, and I took it one step further. Thinking I had created a new word, I wondered if it would even be better to be 'underwhelmed'? HM????
So, for the fun of it, I looked up all three words on my Merriam-Webster Dictionary that I had recently downloaded to my phone (actually, I was taking the opportunity to ‘play’ with my new app!). Imagine my surprise when I discovered that all THREE words are legitimate words! Let's take a peek:
OVERWHELM: a transitive verb (which means it doesn’t need a direct object)-first used in the 14th century-first used in Middle English from the word over and whelmen (to turn over or cover up)
1. To upset or overthrow
2. To overpower in thought or feeling
3. To cover over completely-submerge
WHELM: Also a transitive verb from the 14th century
1. To turn upside down in order to cover something
2. To submerge or engulf-complete with disastrous results
Since both words can be traced to the same general time period, I am guessing that the original word was whelmed, and in an attempt to exaggerate an extremely whelming situation, someone created the word overwhelm in an effort to make a point~~thus overwhelmed is used to express an extremely overpowering situation, thought, or feeling.
Now let’s consider the word underwhelm.
UNDERWHELM: first used in 1949 meaning to fail or
to impress or stimulate
My definition: it doesn’t do much for you
The dictionary used a movie/film related sample sentence, so I will create my own similar sample sentence. I am underwhelmed by most of the new shows on TV, but not by Blue Bloods! (I couldn’t resist an opportunity to plug my favorite new show.)
Anyway, I take it that being whelmed is really not much better than being overwhelmed, and being underwhelmed isn’t such a good deal either.
Next, I looked for usages of the word overwhelmed in Scripture. There are numerous occurrences in the Old Testament, especially The Psalms. I’m glad this word had been created before William Tyndale and others had begun translating God’s Word into the English language. I think overwhelmed is the perfect translation of the word used in the original copies of Scripture. The original connotation of the word found throughout the Old Testament involves an overpowering situation that leaves one’s body at the point of exhaustion and one’s soul in languish. It was also used to describe a person that has become weak or feeble. (From The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament-TWOT)
We will look closely at a few of the usages from Psalms over the next couple of weeks before heading back to the AWARDS from John 11.
Keep in mind, Martha, and her sister, Mary, were definitely overwhelmed with the situation surrounding their brother’s sickness and death. Did Jesus care? You bet He did! If you have read my previous posts, you, too, can know that you can be comforted by His loving grace~~because He cares about your situation too!
May God's Grace OVERWHELM today! I have decided to change this closing, since I have realized that overwhelm is usually used to express disastrous results. God's grace definitely doesn't provide disastrous results!! Maybe, instead, I will state:
Trusting my blog doesn't underwhelm anyone! :)
Trusting my blog doesn't underwhelm anyone! :)
Debbie
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