Having Grace Under Pressure – Persevere In Trying Circumstances

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ (Galatians 6:9); ‘Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.’ (Romans 12:12)

The news of assassination attempts, possible outbreaks of wars (including nuclear ones), rumors of new pandemics, and other maladies that may come our way can give us fear and trepidation, causing us to perhaps pause our efforts to share our Faith or to help others in need.  Sometimes we hear these things or, such as what occurred in during our last severe hurricane event Ian, we retrench into ourselves to hold and protect what we have, focusing internally and not helping those around us who may have greater needs.  While it is good for each of us to prepare ourselves, we need to be ready to help others.  That help may be material (food, water, etc.), or it may be to help Spiritually (provide prayers, encouragement or a helping hand to accomplish a needed task). 

Back in the day, that great theological group, Rush, discussed this with their album entitled, ‘Grace Under Pressure’.  (Well, they weren’t really a great theological group, but they did rock.)  Demonstrating God’s Grace under the pressures of life, when the crises of events can add stress to the physical, mental, emotional and Spiritual aspects of our lives.  To persevere in Faith and demonstrate it even in the midst of such pressure, while challenging, is equally rewarding.

The Scriptures have many stories of perseverance, both in the Old and New Testaments, to show that we as Christians do not need to fear failure or defeat.  Perseverance is used to build up the Christian in Faith.  In the New Testament, Paul in his Epistles and John in Revelation talk much of endurance and patience.  The warning both of them give is that those Faithful in Christ will go through trials and tribulations in their Gospel Walk. 

We will have family members who are slow to either come (or come back) to Christ, or resistant to letting go of their secular bonds.  Others will deal with ridicule or as we’ve seen in Canada outright hostility (and in repressed nations around the world, incarceration, torture, and death) toward Christians and churches.  We will have secular things that will cause us to stumble (the loss of a job, a life event gone wrong); these things happen to all of us but it is not the incident or perhaps a sinful action or response from us that is critical in these situations.

The key to perseverance is continuing to bring Jesus into our lives and situations.  People will disappoint us in their actions, our car will break down, or we may have to face arrest when attempting to enter the church parking lot to attend a service one day.  We may respond the way Peter did when Jesus was arrested, and deny Him when persecution becomes a state-sanctioned activity.  We may cuss and kick the tires if our car breaks down going to an important appointment, or lose a job or opportunity because someone just doesn’t like you. 

How we are to respond is mentioned in Revelation 14:12, specifically for the Pronouncements of the 3 Angels (including the Mark of the Beast) but good for any occasion, ‘This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.’  To gain from loss or failure, we must turn to Jesus to show us what we are to learn from it and to see how He uses the experience to grow His Lordship in us.  We often can’t be fixed until broken or worn out. 

Sometimes our position in life needs to be fixed.  There is a Jewish (extracanonical) story about Elijah, who was with a protégé of his (possibly Elisha), and one day they were going past a Godly old woman’s house, who was loved by her community, and she had an old milk cow.  They were invited in and the old lady blessed them with a good, hot meal, a glass of fresh & creamy-tasting milk, and a comfortable place to sleep for the night.  The next morning, as they were leaving and out of hearing range of the old woman, Elijah prayed for the Lord to kill off the cow.  The cow died,  and this would be a setback for the lady, who used the milk for herself and her community. 

The protégé asked Elijah why he would provide such as prayer, and Elijah responded that Death was supposed to visit the old lady that day, and Elijah’s prayer was to have Death not fall upon her, but the cow instead.  The cow would eventually be replaced, but the old lady would not.  She would not know, having to deal with getting the old cow disposed of and not having the ability to provide milk to her neighbors, that this problem was really a blessing. 

The parable is a view that sometimes what we see as setbacks are really blessings; what we see as negative turns out to be positive.  Sometimes in order to see how good we have it; we have to experience the bad.  God allows us to go through tribulations, so that we can better appreciate Him when we fall back and rely on Him, and uses those times of perseverance to draw out the iron and sharpen us.  We may go through loss, or pain, but God provides for us Victory in Him!