Staying Positive under Pressure
Exodus 14:13
For the past couple of weeks, the Lord has burdened me with the various needs in the body. I will say again as I have so many other times; I am excited about God’s presence and power being manifested week after week. Let’s continue to dare to dream that with God all things are possible. For the past few months we have been enjoying the powerful presence of God in each service. But at the same time, the enemy is rearing his ugly head trying to distract us from moving forward with God. Families are being attacked, marriages are being attacked, finances, health and on and on it goes.
The fact of the matter is just because we name the name of Christ, does not mean we are exempt from the challenges of life. Peter tells us, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing is happening to you…” (1 Peter 4:12). The fact is: we all have times when we face tremendous pressure from everyday living. We all have been to that place where we lose or exhaust all possibilities of finding a way out of our situation. It is a place where we come to the end of all human ability and resources. You might be here this morning and you find yourself at that place; a place where seemingly there is no escape, no help; no place to run and no place to hide. You know; that place where we come to the end of our rope and we convince ourselves that it can’t get any better than this.
We resign ourselves to living a mediocre life and are happy just to get by. But, Jesus did not die on Calvary just so we could get by, using all of our strength just to cope. Jesus died so that we would have life, abundant life.
(Pop Popcorn)
Our lives are much like this popcorn. Many people enjoy this wonderful snack; what a wonderful aroma it sends out. But do you realize this snack starts as a hard kernel of corn. But when it is subjected to the heat, put under pressure, it produces a great snack. It has to go through the heat and pressure before it explodes into this great snack called popcorn. In a similar way, there will be times when we all face the fiery furnace, the fiery trial that Peter refers too. There will be times when we face circumstances that put our faith to the test but in the end can produce in us an unshakeable trust in God and bring glory to a God who can do anything but fail.
When the children of Israel were set free from captivity, they were headed into the blessings of God. Understand that when we entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ, spiritually we left Egypt and started on the journey to the Promised-land. The Promised-land is not heaven; it represents the abundant life Jesus came to give us. It is entering into the blessings and favor of God where we are His people and He is our God.
When they left Egypt to enter into the life God called them to live, almost immediately they find themselves facing a major hurtle. They had come to the bank of the Red Sea and set up camp. Notice that they are in the will of God; they are following the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Yet, the enemy pursues them and all of a sudden they were facing an impossible situation with no visible means of escape. In front of them was the Red Sea; the sides were surrounded by the hilly terrain and behind them the enemy was in hot pursuit. They had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Their only options seemed to be either get killed in battle or drown trying to swim across the sea. It looked as though they were boxed in and no matter what they did, where they turned, or what they contemplated, there appeared to be no way out.
And guess what? They were right where God wanted them to be. They were in the perfect will of God and yet in His will their faith was being tested. You might be sitting here this morning and like the children of Israel, you appear to be boxed in. It seems that your problems are so big and nothing you do brings relief. You are surrounded and the enemy is coming up from the rear. The enemy is mocking you and telling you how foolish it is to trust God; he tells you that it will do you no good to have faith. He says your marriage is going to fall apart; your finances will never improve; your health will continue to deteriorate so you might as well curse God and die. Quit coming to church, bow out of your ministry responsibilities; quit giving God His tithes and offerings, just curse God and die.
Friend the good news is, we can stay positive under pressure. Like the kernel of popcorn, we can go through the fire and come out pleasing to God. How?
We must:
I. Recognize God’s Purpose
The events of our lives do not happen by happenstance; God is in control of everything. So often we believe that we are being punished for some wrong we have done. When we face our own Red Sea, that place of overwhelming difficulty, we tend to believe that we had it coming. We reason that we must have done something wrong, ticked God off and now He is dumping these problems on us. This is not the God of the Bible.
He had a purpose in bringing the Children of Israel to the Red Sea and he has a purpose for the Red Sea you are facing this morning. When we face difficulties in life, God wants to accomplish two things: 1) He wants to make known His glory to others and 2) He wants to teach us to rust Him completely.
(Verse 4 states, “But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord”).
The Red Sea you are facing serves a purpose. God can use it to glorify himself and bring you into a closer relationship with Him. You can come through this ordeal with a stronger faith than you’ve ever had before. Friend, he knows how your faith is being tested. He knows the times you just want to give up and throw in the towel. He knows how painful it is, the times you lie awake at night wondering how it will all work out. He sees the stress and strain in your life. He knows all the tears you shed when no one is around. But listen, the Psalmist declared, “for weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”
Friend, just as sure as the sun sets at night, a new day will dawn. You might be in the midnight hour of your life, but hold on a new day will break forth in your life. You will come through this. God is not troubling you nor is he punishing you. All the evil that happens is not from God. He can, however, take whatever comes our way and make something good come out of it.
II. Retain God’s Perspective
When we find ourselves facing what appears to be an impossible situation, we often will lose our perspective. We start doubting God’s love and concern; we somehow think that God is angry with us. When the children of Israel saw the Egyptian Army coming up from the rear, they panicked. Listen to what they said, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?”
Isn’t it amazing that this would be their attitude after all they had seen God do for them. They witnessed the awesome power of God back in Egypt but they had already forgotten about it. They went on to say, “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert.”
Now I suppose they were right. It would have been better for them to remain a slave than to die in the wilderness but the truth is, God did not intend for them to do either. He had plans for them, plans greater than they could imagine. Of course they were not going to die in the wilderness. They Egyptians didn’t want to kill them, they wanted to take them back into slavery.
You see, when we face insurmountable odds, it is so easy to lose our perspective on the situation. Too often when we are confronted with an impossible situation, rather than meet it head on, we want to take the easy way out. We say, “I don’t want to face this, I don’t want to have to fight so I’ll just go back to Egypt and resume my life as a slave.” I feel there is someone right now and you have said that if things didn’t get any better, you were going to quit coming to church and give up on God.
Friend, God had great things in store for the children of Israel. All they had to do was trust him even though there appeared to be no way out. God has a great plan for each of us. He doesn’t want you to die in the wilderness nor does He want you to go back to your old life of sin and bondage. He doesn’t want you to settle for second best. He doesn’t want you to run from the crisis, he wants you to meet it head on with courage and the conviction that he will see you through. The Red Sea you are facing is not the impasse you think it is. It is tempting to take the easy way out, to settle for second best but God has a better idea.
III. Rely on God’s Promises
A motivational speaker once said, “If your success was guaranteed, wouldn’t you be willing to endue just about anything? If you had an iron-clad contract stating that if you dig ditches in the rain everyday for 6 months you will have complete financial freedom, wouldn’t you be willing to dig ditches?” The answer is an obvious yes.
We can endure just about anything if we know the outcome. One of the most difficult aspects of facing our Red Sea is dealing with the feelings of hopelessness and helplessness.
We must rely on God’s promises. He said, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you only need to be still.”
God promised them that he would take care of them and that He was going to fight their battle for them. All they had to do was stand firm or be still which simply means they had to block out all the distractions and focus on God. The peace of God can’t hit a moving target; we must stand still and focus on God’s promises.
Friend, if you are facing a Red Sea situation, remember, it only seems impossible to you. God has a plan; it may be something different than you could ever imagine, but He has a plan. He will get you to the other side. He has not left you; you’re not on your own. You don’t have to fight this battle, just stand still, firmly grounded in your faith that God can do anything but fail.
If you are facing a Red Sea problem, we want to pray for you. If you are the one who said, God, unless something changes, I’m giving up. Friend, Jesus is praying for you that your faith fail not.
