Pressure!

I am sitting down far too late in the day, Father – but You know that of course. Reel me back in. Realign me. Use this flawed vessel once more, I humbly plead.

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Pressure. Most of us aren’t fans of pressure in our lives. We often see it with a fairly negative perspective. The more pressure we have in our lives, the less we enjoy our lives. Pressure can drive many people to extreme actions or reactions – violent outbursts, shutting down from interaction with others…even suicide.

But pressure can be beneficial. I read recently where two men who were serving in the military together had made a pact that if one of them was killed the other would not leave them but would make sure their body got back to be properly taken care of. Through the course of their service, one took a sniper’s bullet in the chest, and miraculously, he survived! All his buddy could do was apply pressure to where the bullet had entered his body, all the while dragging him to safety! It was enough to save his life!

Almost three months ago, I began using a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine to address my sleep apnea. Basically, sleep apnea is when you stop breathing while you are sleeping due to some sort of obstruction in your airway. Snoring can be a sign of this issue.

I’m not an expert on it all but the CPAP machine as the acronym states creates continuous positive airway pressure. The one I use automatically determines how much pressure is needed to keep the obstruction at bay. It takes a bit of getting used to, but one thing – I don’t snore anymore, for which Karen is very grateful. And reading the results from my machine tells me I have very little time when I stop breathing – before using the machine I had serious issues in that area.

And it all comes down to pressure!

There are some areas in life where we need to avoid pressure but there are times too when we must use the pressure to help ourselves to be victorious. Instead of letting pressure destroy us, we need to let it fortify us, making us stronger.

What does the Bible have to say about how we should deal with pressure? Here is Proverbs 3:5-6 from the Amplified Bible.

Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart
And do not rely on your own insight or understanding.

In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him,
And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].

From experience, I know that life is just too much to bear alone. Clinging to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the only way to handle the pressures of life. We must trust him; we must rely on Him and we can do so confidently! And we must do so, not half-heartedly but with all our heart. We cannot rely on ourselves. We must come to the full realization that He is the one that can take that pressure from us and in doing so can remove the obstacles that block our way!

Without pressure, we’d be very apt to think that we could handle everything. But with pressure, we realize that we can’t, and it is then that we seek out the Lord…and then we are victorious! Amen!

Jan 9^th, 2023, Mon, 5:52 pm