Pressure

Pressure

By F. Martin

While driving to work I was singing as always along with a gospel track. It gets me into the place of worship that I cannot get to on my own. I am effectively my own worship leader, in my own mobile church. I am the deacon, pastor, teacher, parishioner and backslider! All rolled up into one.

It is a way to show appreciation to a God who has ushered me into a place of peace that I cannot begin to explain. If you are reading this you must have experienced the peace of God at one point in your life. Even if you do not serve God at this point in your life, more than likely you have acknowledged His presence in your life, family, city, or world. The bible tells us that He is everywhere and involved in every thing having to do with our lives. A non-believer may ask, “Is He jacking my life up too and is He in control of that”. Well yes He is. As believers we know that,

Romans 8:28 (KJV) 28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

So God is in control of the things that hurt and help. God even admits it regularly throughout His word. He makes sure that we understand that He commands all that goes on. Sometimes it is allowance, other times it is preference. So can we really say that God allows pressure? Yes, of course he does. It is utilized by God to create power and majesty in those things that possess neither quality. Let’s examine Godly pressure in three different aspects. Creation of mountain ranges occurs through earthquakes, erosion, and volcanoes.

Let’s examine earthquakes first. We marvel constantly at the mountain ranges surrounding us, and others around the world with wonder. These mountains occur in various forms of pressure. The tallest mountains occur when tectonic plates moving at only centimeters per year, move towards one another and leave no room in between. This extremely slow collision causes the rocks to go upward. This is the process of the genesis of mountain ranges. These collisions are often times massive earthquakes, or pressure. This pressure we find to be positive and majestic as long as we are far from the genesis of them. This is also true with today’s Christian. We marvel at the platform speakers, classroom teachers, and men’s group leaders. We see ourselves in their position and we sometimes criticize them for not doing the job that we could do. Yet we do not want to be involved with the shifting of the Christian tectonic plates! We want to come in after the spiritual earthquakes are over and marvel at the majesty and power, wishing to be seated in the same place with half the work done. Christians face the same types of pressures it took to frame the planet. It is simply directed at us for perfecting sake. Not many of us relish the thought of going through the Earthquake pressure method. That takes a steely resolve and a strong faith. We do not want the burden of dealing with the shaking up (quake) of our comfort zone. We often detest the small tremors as well. We find it difficult to ride out the quake and more difficult to believe the aftermath will benefit us. So what of this thing called pressure? Does God utilize it for His children as He did for His Earth?

pressure

a : the burden of physical or mental distress b : the constraint of circumstance : the weight of social or economic imposition

2 : the application of force to something by something else in direct contact with it :the action of a force against an opposing force b : the force or thrust exerted over a surface divided by its area.

God created a perfect atmospheric pressure on earth in the beginning. Why do we know that? The bible lets us know that men lived to be hundreds of years old. This could only occur if the atmosphere did not interfere with our living conditions as it does now. We are now experiencing the intensity of the sun and many free radicals that age us in a more rapid fashion. Prior to the flood, saturation of the earth rose up, and did not come down. God used the sky in a more protective way than is used now. Prior to Noah, there was no rain and the sky was a protective cover that yielded long life to earth’s inhabitants. God more than likely covered the earth protectively for the sole purpose of long life for the man He created. No where does it say that a cow lived to be 400 years old! God created this perfect atmosphere to accommodate a perfect creation in man. Imagine if you will the physically perfect human form of Adam. Without one iota of imperfect consumption in the Garden of Perfection, God walked with His creation and spoke with Him. Coupled with the wisdom of God, and the lack of impurities on the perfect planet, Adam must have been a sight to behold. Now this next text will appeal to those with children. I taught all my children to walk, by simply reducing the amount of time carrying them. God is the same way in which He looks to extract the best from each and every one of us through test and trials. The education system follows the system of Kingdom principles through tests. These tests validate the mastery of a chosen subject. Such is the case with God as He tests our mastery of His will.