Under Pressure

By Paul Chappell

"Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."

Job 23:8-10

The largest piano in the world is the Challen Grand Concert Piano. It is more than two feet longer than a standard grand piano and weighs over a ton. When the 230 strings are connected, the frame tension is more than 60,000 pounds—thirty tons of pressure! That’s a lot of pressure, but without that pressure, the piano cannot make beautiful music.

Life works in much the same way. All of us have times when we experience extreme pressure. Whether it is sickness, financial difficulty, a strained relationship, a besetting sin, or something else, these times of trial and testing can produce something beautiful. Job certainly experienced far worse trials than most of us will ever endure. He lost his wealth, his health, and his children; and his wife suggested he curse God so he could die. At the lowest point in his life, even when he could not see or understand what God was doing, he had faith that he was being refined and made better by the pressures he was enduring.

The attitude we take toward the pressures of life goes a long way toward determining whether those pressures will produce improvement or bitterness. If we react with anger or complain about our circumstances, our lives will not be made better by what we experience. If like Job we respond in faith, God can use those trials to refine us and make us more useful to His work and to others. The pressures of your life hold the key to your productivity for Him.

Today's Rooted Principle:

View your struggles as a tool God can use for your improvement, and you will find the pressure easier to endure.