We are so quick to say “You don’t understand what I’m going through”, when people try to empathise with us. Especially if it comes from someone older than us, and they direct us to the bible. Our main argument for not listening is the fact that we think things were different back then.
However, no matter what era we are in or whether we are generation Z or X, being human never changed. We all go through life and with that comes stress and pressure. We can all learn from others especially the people in the bible.
Here are a few examples of biblical people who faced pressures and how they dealt with it:
Samuel
Samuel was dedicated to God from even before he was born. He had a duty to his people as a prophet and as a judge to lead. With that already comes a lot of pressure. Then to add to it, the people start asking for a King and God approves of this request (Samuel 8). Now he became in charge of finding the first ever King of Israel. Samuel battled with the idea of a King as he felt rejected by the people for making this choice. However, as a good follower of God, Samuel communed with God through prayer and received direction from God. Led by God’s instruction Samuel was going to set a precedent, this could either go really well or terribly bad and cause him to lose his respect and influence in Israel. Unfortunately, Samuel’s first choice of King Saul started off great but ended terribly thanks to Saul’s own pride (Samuel 15,19). Samuel was so distraught from the outcome of Saul’s reign that he mourned the loss of his relationship with the King (Samuel 16:1). However, God still instructed him to go and anoint a new King behind Saul’s back. Having the responsibility of picking another King when your first was a flop would have been very intimidating for Samuel. In addition, he was fearful Saul would kill him if he found out what he was doing. So of course, he wouldn’t want to make any mistakes with the new choice. Even with this internal conflict when God provided Samuel with the revelation of who to anoint, David, Samuel listened (Samuel 16:13). David did end up being a great King under the counsel of Samuel.
Joseph
Being made something out of nothing (Genesis 39:1-6), then being responsible for a whole nation (Genesis 41:39-41). Joseph had the weight of the whole nation on his shoulders. What if he misinterpreted the dream or what if they wouldn’t be able to gather enough grain. All these things would have swirled through your head. However, Joseph was led by God and he knew his interpretation came from the Lord who would never fail him (Genesis 41:16). He listened and, in the end, there was more than enough food gathered for the nation and other sojourners.
Jesus
Imagine having been prophesied about even before your conception and then having to arrive and fulfil all that has been said about you. Jesus was prophesied about 1,800 years well before He entered this earth. So, He would have had a lot to prove to the people when He was on earth. He was the child of the almighty God, He didn’t have just any ordinary father, He was a King. It’s like today’s version of Prince George or North West, everyone is watching every step of their life. Everyone wants to know who they will be more like, what they will achieve and who they will be friends with. People, especially the Pharisees were watching everything Jesus did, so in a way Jesus didn’t have room to stuff up like we do. Not only was his daily life filled with expectations, the biggest expectation from Jesus was to save the human race. He was the only key to our salvation. In typical human fashion even, Jesus felt abandoned and without hope on the cross (Matthew 27:46). Even while He was fighting His flesh Jesus still fulfilled His mission on the cross.
What Can We Learn:
- Listen – We need to open our ears to the Lords voice. If God instructs us to do something or convicts us of a mission we should listen to him, for there is a reason why he chose you.
- It’s Not Just About You – Don’t let your ideals, opinions or feelings get in the way of God working through you. Everything we do should be for the glory of God and may not always seem great in the process. We need to get out of our feelings and look at the bigger picture.
- Prayer – If you are confused or conflicted by the mission or situation you are in pray about it. God is always there to listen to what you have to say. Find counsel in God and he will most likely answer your question.
- Read the word – The Lord will always be there to guide you and he gives us different ways of receiving his guidance. The best way is to read his word. When you learn more about his character you will know how he works.
- Trust and Obey – Even though the situation isn’t going the way you thought it would, doesn’t mean you must stop. If God called you there be resilient for all things by him work for our good.
- Purpose Under Pressure – There is so much we can learn about ourselves and God when we are under pressure. The examples above all fulfilled their purposes under different pressures. So, God will use you under pressure to mould you for your purpose.
We will all feel pressure in different facets of our lives which we can’t control. However, we can control how we react to these pressures. The process will be hard but the outcome is for your greater good.