Decompression Sickness?

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. (James 1:2-4)

Charles Spurgeon reminded us, "Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of." While none of us actually look forward to trials, it is possible to develop a mindset that embraces the concept of trials helping our faith to grow. We might not actually have 'open arms' when it comes to facing discouragement, anxiety, or even an all-out battle of the wills, but it is possible to become comfortable having our 'spiritual comfort' disturbed from time to time. Why? We know discomfort in the spiritual realm will produce things of lasting value within us.

Pressure might just make us feel like something or some place in our lives is being 'forced open' and 'brought into the open'. Is that a bad thing? Never! What remains hidden may not become evident until there is a 'jimmying' of the lock of our heart. Circumstances can actually 'jimmy' the locked heart and mind - making us see clearly what has been hidden from view. Sometimes it will be something God has been asking us to deal with - to let go of. At others, it may be a strength we didn't know existed within us - a talent he desires for us to put into use for him. Either way, until that 'lock' is jimmied, it remains hidden.

A scuba diver will tell you that coming out of pressure too fast can leave you with a rather uncomfortable and often life-threatening condition known as the decompression sickness or the bends. The body needs time to adjust to the change in depth - the diver is to come up slowly, allowing the body to adjust to the pressure around them. When we attempt to force ourselves out of the depths of trials way too soon, we might just experience a little bit of 'decompression sickness', as well. It won't be related to nitrogen bubbles in our bloodstream, but it will be related to the time God needed to accomplish whatever it was he was working on in us! 

Let the pressures do their thing. Let them work in you to bring out of you what needs to be released. The more 'comfortable' we become in allowing God to do his work in us, the better the outcome of the trial will be. Heart change is only possible when we allow the time and focus necessary. The diver needs the air in his lungs, but he certainly doesn't need the bubbles in his bloodstream. Just sayin!