Let’s face it, there’s pressure even in the best environments. You can be smackdab in the center of God’s will and still face significant challenges. In fact, it is a disservice to people when we tell them “Just get in God’s will and everything will fall into place!” Things may fall into place in some respects, but buckle up for the headwinds that come because you are in the will of God! When the Lord spoke to Abram about leaving his homeland for a brave new world, He said,
“Go, Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”
That last part of God’s statement indicates that even in the most enriching journey towards Him, with the most consequential outcomes ahead and the greatest positive changes of one’s life, that there will be “him who curses you.” Not everyone will like you or love you. If there is someone ready to bless you, Abram, you can expect someone will be ready with the opposite intention. I love the Divine intent here… as if He is saying “I Myself will bless…and I Myself will curse…” God gets involved in our movement in Him, and still does today for His covenant people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Personalize that promise to your own journey.
Even when we are in the best jobs, in the right environment, or where God has led us, we will still face pressures and problems. Isn’t it naïve to think we can live in a fallen world and not experience some? Question is – after you’ve made changes to go in the new direction, will the new challenges be the pressures and problems you love, for people you love, for a community you love, for the sake of obedience to the God you love?
Even when we are thriving, there are stressors. Deadlines. Cashflow. Family or health issues. Distractions good and bad. Staff conflicts, because even in the right environments, humans don’t stop being human.
How we respond to pressure is key.
Think of the sports team that comes into hostile territory. They know it’s hard to win a road game, to defeat a formidable enemy on his own turf with the home crowd rooting for his opponent. When our daughter was in college at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, there was no describing the awesome sound of tens of thousands of fans calling the Hogs in a stadium seated high up on a hill with a roaring reverberation heard for miles! Daunting to a visiting team, it could fuel momentum and adrenaline beyond the simple executing of plays in the game.
Think of the draft pick that landed his dream job in the NFL. When he faces the rest of the seasoned players on the practice field, it’s scary…gone are his adoring college fans, and when he’s ribbed as a rookie in the locker room after being top of his game on the college field, it’s humbling. He’s in his Promised Land among giants (or Lions, Bears, Jets, Cowboys, Bills, Chiefs…you get the point).
Even to the plant living in the most beautiful spot by the lake, there’s always pressure. Wind, rain, rocky soil, thunderstorms, plunging temperatures, soaring temperatures. It’s tough to be a little tree trying to make a go of it on the beach. Check out the picture Abbie took at Lake Ouachita this summer on a gorgeous day and in a perfect environment – a real dream spot. This little guy is on a beach all day long, covered by blue skies and facing one of the prettiest views of the lake. Are all his days great? Not by a longshot. He’s gotta press down, and press up…all the time.
Down-pressure is everywhere.
Air presses us from above, and those of us in the deep South understand some summer days are like drinking your air, the humidity is so oppressive. Even on my most riveting days in the jungles of Belize, India or the Philippines, the heat and humidity could be dreadful! Add a brown-out or power outage in a typhoon, and it’s disastrous. And if you happen to live under water, that’s a lot of pressure too. It’s a tough neighborhood with the sharks and all.
Then there is up-pressure, the pressure to break through, the press, the reach for sunlight, for moisture… Up pressure means roots go deeper to hold you up higher. Down through tough soil so you can branch out into a broader existence – Man that’s a lot of energy! But don’t we often feel it?
Thriving is from the inside out, beyond the dirt and rocks and weight of soil. The little tree that holds on becomes as strong as the elements around it, humbly bending when needed, but with great inner resolve to dig deep and reach high. Digging deep can be embodied in these words of Jesus:
“Whoever comes to Me and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you who he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock [it was well built-NU]. – Luke 6:47-48 NKJV
Jesus’ generation was quite familiar with the flash floods in the wadis where soil was soft and sandy. It wasn’t a smart place to build or to put stakes of a tent down. The safer place was where a foundation would hold the house or the tent in place well enough to weather a sudden storm.
In my jungle adventure, the homeowner called the house we stayed in a “Hurricane House.” Of course, I asked her to elaborate! She described how two massive steel beams had been brought up that hill, one driven vertically deep into the mountain, standing tall enough to hold the second beam, fastened horizontally onto it. The entire house was constructed on these two beams. Belize, as is true of all the Caribbean, has its fair share of hurricanes which have devastated many homes, towns, and villages through time. The capital city moved its central business to the interior of the island to better weather the hurricanes. But here on the jungle mountain, this house stood firm year after year despite terrible blasting storms because of a beam that goes deep and reaches up…and a beam that’s fastened securely to it.
For trees, roots go deep and wide to find nourishment and to hold up the mightiest of trees, and so is our inner root system, the deepening and nourishing of a life of Torah study. When we search the Scriptures, follow the Torah, read and pray through the Psalms and Prophets, memorize and pour over the wisdom literature, search the Gospels and letters, our roots are fed and watered to deepen our stance for the storms of life and change. We could say our life is best fashioned on two beams – hearing and doing the Word of God.
King David taught us to always reach up. “I will lift up my eyes to the hills to the Lord, where my help comes from.” (Psalm 121) We humble ourselves and look downward, but in reality, spiritually speaking, we are looking up – looking to Heaven, looking for His aid, His Mind and Counsel. We look up in expectation of seeing help, and our hope is fueled. Nature itself shows us of the goodness of our Creator:
“I’ve seen the lily push its way up through the stubborn sod, I believe in miracles, Oh I believe in God…”*
It seems miraculous that the tough little tree or flower can press up through rocks and stony ground to find its way in life, but it serves to remind us that the real miracle is inside us -- a God-ordained will to fight, survive, thrive, and bloom beyond what’s often provided or enabled. It’s in there.
It’s in you to press. It’s in you to dig deep.
It’s in you to thrive.
Photo credit: Tough Little Tree, Abbie Kent 2024. Song lyrics referenced, "I Believe in Miracles," John Peterson/Carlton Buck, 1956, and was performed by Jeanne Caldwell on the JEANNE album.
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