I’M PRESSED
Are you still the same when the waves draw near?
Pressure, pressure, pressure; there’s a way it will press you, and you’ll know it’s a sure one.
We all know what this word is about. I bet you’d rhyme it with words like burden, tension and distress, because it definitely is all of those. As a society, we can relate to this word in so many moments of our lives.
This message came about when I stumbled across a very well-known story in the Bible: The Crossing Of The Red Sea. For context, the children of Israel had been enslaved for over 400 years. It began after Joseph, Egypt’s former prime minister, saved everyone from famine and eventually passed away. Then a new pharaoh took over who knew nothing of that past, and he enslaved the Israelites, using them for the heavy, strenuous work of the land. Very harsh…
Fast forward, a Hebrew boy named Moses grows up in Pharaoh’s house in Egypt. He becomes a well-known figure, raised with all the privileges of Egyptian royalty. But things crumble when he kills an Egyptian to save a fellow Israelite who was being beaten.
Fearing Pharaoh would have him killed for such an act, Moses eventually ran away. He fled to Midian, where he settled, married and spent about 40 years as a shepherd. One day, God spoke to him through a burning bush and sent him back to Egypt to tell Pharaoh to let His people go. Pharaoh refused, so God sent ten plagues on Egypt. The last one being the death of every firstborn, finally broke Pharaoh, and he let the Israelites leave. But soon he changed his mind and sent his army after them.
That is how, in Exodus 14, the Israelites ended up at a dead end: the sea in front of them, the Egyptians gaining quickly behind them. And what is left to do? PANIC!!!
Why so?!!! Because the people who once maltreated them are coming back to get them and who knows, probably to do ten times worse than what their households had suffered — there were 600 chariots with Pharaoh himself.
They couldn’t even fight back if they wanted to: a crowd of men, women and children, without a single weapon or piece of armor in sight. Turn to the Red Sea, and there’s no way one would survive swimming in that much water, and there’s no boat or canoe either.
So what is pressure? A heavy distress waiting to be heavily addressed? Yes.
It’s the inevitable feeling that comes when you’re cornered, and it’s exactly what these people (Israelites) felt.
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Y’all also noticed that Pressure has a quick way of changing a person’s perspective? It turned the people bitterly against the man leading them. They cried out in Exodus 14:11–12, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?” They even said they would rather be slaves to the Egyptians than die in the wilderness.
Compare that with the moment they were set free. I’m pretty sure they praised and rejoiced and thanked God. Now, stuck over here, they were crying, wailing and bursting with complaints.
Does that ring a bell? Yes. Yes, it really does. No matter how many times I read this story and think, “Oh, the Israelites should have been patient, yada, yada, yada,” it is only easy to say. What if you were there too? We would all have folded.
I have had many moments where I let pressure get the best of me, even to the point of making a decision and following through with it. Some of those decisions I regret to this day, but I thank God that I’ve learnt and moved on.
With all that going on, it’s beautiful to see that Moses didn’t give in to their grief. Instead, he encouraged them and told them that God would deliver them. (Exodus 14:13–14).
To me, there are two lessons in that. First is having the right people. The right people will always be there to encourage you properly. They’ve been with you in your highs and lows, and they’ll do their best to help you see the bigger picture or to comfort you.
The second is remembering your past. Don’t you recall the different pressures that have come upon you before? If God had rescued you from those times, what makes you think He wouldn’t do the same for this one?
So, after Moses encouraged them, God stepped in. He told Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea so that it would part and the people could walk through on dry ground (Exodus 14:16).
Did Moses do it? Of course.
And here is another insight: even in the midst of pressure, we should never let it overwhelm us. We go to God for help, He gives us instructions, and it’s left to us to obey. And even if He doesn’t answer right on the spot, what will you do? Just keep leaning on Him.
Imagine if God had given Moses those instructions and Moses had answered with complaints, or quietly agreed that they were as good as dead. That might have been the end, or something worse.
So I noticed this almost looking like a pattern:
Pressure + Encouragement + Prayer + Obedience
At the end of the story, Moses obeyed, the sea parted, and every Israelite walked through on dry ground to the other side. The Lord made sure everyone got to safety. When the Egyptians followed down that same path, the walls of water closed in on them and they all drowned. Not a single one of them escaped — the pressure that had been chasing the Israelites was wiped out right in front of them.
No matter how big or small, pressure can’t overcome you when you fix your mind on God. He knows what you’re going through and how much it hurts, and even in the middle of that pressure, He is shaping a better you, if only you give it to Him. For us, that same hope is found in Jesus Christ.
So ask yourself, or better still, ponder this;
Who are you when pressure comes? How do you act when the waves come closer? Do you run to God, or give in?
I really hope this helps you with whatever you’re going through. Have it at the back of your mind that God’s with you. 🌹
