GRACE UNDER PRESSURE

Daniel 11:36-12:13; 1 John 4:1-21; Psalm 123:1-4; Proverbs 29:2-4

“At that time Michael, the archangel who stands guard over your nation, will arise. Then there will be a time of anguish greater than any since nations first came into existence. But at that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued. Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace. Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.”

“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.”

“Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy, for we have had our fill of contempt. We have had more than our fill of the scoffing of the proud and the contempt of the arrogant.”

“When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan.”

The measure of a Christian is seldom accurately taken in a vacuum. Any number of so-called “religious” people seem to believe their spirituality is best gauged at 10:30 AM on Sunday morning. God, however, knows better. In fact, the reality is we’re probably not fooling anyone but ourselves if we think religion stops on Monday. Seldom are the pressures of life felt as acutely in front of the altar. When they are, it is only because we bring them with us from the “outside.” We give a lot of lip service to laying our burdens before the Lord, and that’s not a bad thing. However, I sometimes wonder if we haven’t got the priority just the tiniest bit mixed up. Instead of regarding the Sanctuary as a place where we can cast our cares on the Lord, perhaps we should put more emphasis on taking what we learn at the altar and using it to cast the demons out of our everyday life. In other words, spirituality is not worth much if it cannot withstand pressure. If we are not willing to subject our faith to any kind of serious stress, the question has got to be asked whether what we are trying to protect is really worth the effort or the subterfuge.

One of the “backhanded blessings” of this recession has been the opportunity to see peoples’ true colors in this area. Adversity has hit just about everyone to one degree or another. It has been an interesting and educational exercise to see how folks have responded. Some – way too many, unfortunately – have had their faith revealed for the charade it is. Tried, their religion has been found wanting. It has provided neither the comfort nor the strength demanded of it, because until a crisis situation arose, it had never been thoroughly tested. Like a person who buys a used boat (analogy: accepting faith on the strength of someone else’s testimony) and leaves it in dry dock until the floods come, these folks find themselves with a religion that cannot withstand the storms of life. The middle of a squall and flood is no time to learn our boats leak. The center of a recession is no time to find that our faith is made up mainly of mind games, either.

Happily, there also are those who have continued to stand in the face of the wind and lightning, anchored by their faith. However illogical or deluded they may appear to the rest of the world, they have refused to run or give up on God. They have not abandoned ship, although many have been sorely tempted. These amazing few have remained faithful, even when faith did not seem to pay. They have served as the example for all those others who now find their faith boats swamped and sinking. In certain instances, there are even now coming into focus outward and visible signs that their faith is being rewarded. They are the first survivors on the beach. True to form, they reach land and relative safety only to turn around and begin helping and supporting others. But that’s no surprise. They’ve been doing that all along, because they have made a life in Christ where living beyond logic and their own capacity has become a habit. Consequently, their faith is a living manifestation of grace under pressure, and those of us privileged enough to see it cannot help but be touched, encouraged and inspired by their example of steadfast obedience.

When we are feeling battered and bruised by the difficulties of life, we frequently do not feel like praying. Pray anyway. When injustice rears its ugly head, and Scriptural principles seem to be ground into the dust, we may not want to piece together the pages and keep reading the Word. Read anyway. And when we are hit below the belt and blindsided by the unexpected, in the middle of failure, we may feel we do not have the capacity to love ourselves, much less anyone else. Love anyway. Because the spiritual principle at work is that we were never called by Christ to be happy; we were called by Christ to allow Him to fill us and empower us against all that would challenge our relationship with Him and each other. We were not promised a life of ease; in fact, quite the contrary. Christians are offered nothing more than a life of faith where the only sure thing is that our Savior will never abandon us. The Bible does promise that will be enough. However, we are not likely to feel that way if the first time we test the Lord is in the middle of a crisis.

This is one of the more logical of spiritual truths. The power of the Holy Spirit arises primarily and most consistently out of relationship. Relationships take time to build. Trust takes time to develop. We are called to be obedient whether we feel like it or not because it is the only way to train ourselves in the fine art of reliance. Without reliance, there can be no trust. Without trust, there is no relationship. Without relationship, there is no real faith. Without faith, there is no hope.

Grace under pressure is the manifestation of tried and tested faith. It is not something to be learned in one hour every seven days. It requires an entire lifestyle dedicated to obedience; in other words, practice, practice, practice. We never know when we will be forced to call on the Lord to keep us afloat. But when those times come, it’s nice to know in advance that He is up to the task. Claiming and living in grace under pressure frees us to more effectively evaluate our own situations without as much anxiety or other emotional baggage. It also teaches us to apply the blessings of the Spirit and our own habitual obedience to the matters at hand in a godly way. Then, when the clouds finally do break – as all clouds do, eventually – we will be the ones found standing.