Pressured vision
“Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38).
Every morning I put an eye-drop in each of my eyes. In the evening I repeat this and put an additional drop in my left eye. This is to control the pressure in my eyes, because I suffer from Glaucoma. Increased pressure in the eyes can result in the loss of sight. My eye-drops keep the pressure normalised.
Pressure in our lives is real. Sometimes this pressure comes from a single source, like illness, redundancy, or COVID-19. But often it is a combination of things: the “many things” Jesus spoke to Martha about in Luke 10:41. We are also different in character. Some of us are quickly stressed, and others absorb and even thrive on pressure.
Pressure builds up until something within us breaks down. The disciples experienced this: “But He (Jesus) was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’” This was a critical moment in their relationship with the Lord. The Lord was asleep, but present. He was demonstrating, through His lowliness as a man, the power that never ceased to be His. The disciples believed the Lord could help them, but He needed to be awake. Did they think that, if the Lord had not woken up, they would have perished? In the event, they had the remarkable experience of witnessing the Lord’s power to remove all danger in an instant. But afterwards the Lord said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” (v. 40). The Lord was indicating that, whilst He was with them, they were safe. He was not disturbed by the storm. But He was concerned that His disciples did not trust Him, nor experienced the love that casts out fear. They feared the storm and doubted His care when He wanted them to know His peace and keeping power in the midst of the greatest pressure.
In Acts 12 Peter was right at the centre of another storm – Herod’s persecution of the Church. He was arrested, imprisoned and was awaiting execution. What did he do in such a desperate situation? He fell sound asleep! How could he do that? Because he knew the Lord was with him. Although Stephen was not spared a cruel death, his experience also teaches us that he knew the Lord was with him, and he fell asleep in Jesus (Acts 7:60).
The Lord may not always take us out of our circumstances. This does not mean He does not care. He always wants us to know His presence in the pressures of life. These experiences are intended to form His likeness in us. If pressure engulfs us, and it can, we find peace in casting all our cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7). “Casting” is the action of throwing a covering on the back of a colt (Luke 19:35). Our salvation is described by the Lord’s illustration of a shepherd placing the lost sheep on His shoulders (Luke 15:5). Isaiah 50:6 speaks prophetically of the Lord Jesus, “I gave My back to those who struck Me.” The Lord carries us in the power of His redeeming love that was stronger than death. There is no better place to be when we are facing life’s many pressures than in the Lord’s presence. There we find all our answers. Like my eye-drops, each day we need to apply the word of God to our hearts and be assured by the One who said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
