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Daily Wisdom
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The Pressure, The Pain, And The Prescription - October 30, 2008

A cold is no big deal. Unless it decides to expand its coverage from your nose to your ears. And even that is no big deal unless you're coming down from 30,000 feet up in a commercial airliner. Now, this is not a medical news bulletin, it's a personal testimony. I could feel a little something in my ears before I took off, but I didn't have any idea how the altitude ups and downs of my flight were going to totally block my ears and cause some nasty pain on the way down. The poor lady next to me was telling me some of her heartaches and I kept yawning to keep my head from exploding. And as my ears got more and more clogged, it was like somebody had turned down the volume knob on what she was saying. She must have thought I was a great listener. Well, it was a painful afternoon, but the changing pressure in that plane let me know I had a problem and drove me to do what I usually try to avoid, go to the doctor. I'm glad I did -- he really helped me.

Increased pressure showed me an infection I really needed to deal with. Actually, pressure has a way of exposing a lot of problems that need attention. Maybe the words "increasing pressure" describe your "flight" right now, pressure that's causing some significant pain. It could be the pressure and the pain is in your marriage or maybe your work. For you, the squeeze may be financial or it could be something in an important relationship, but the stress is building. And you don't like what that pressure is doing to you. And, like the pressure I experienced on that flight, there's pain. Could it be there's a purpose in what's happening, to get you to the Doctor?

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 32:1. The great Jewish King David was having a painful flight, he was feeling the pressure. But it is getting him to face some things he might otherwise never have faced. These words from his personal diary start out with what he learned from this hurting time. He says, "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered." Now the pain and pressure that got him to that point of spiritual and emotional freedom. Here is what he says, "When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer."

Maybe you understand some of those feelings -- like there is a heavy hand on you, extended in times of sadness. There is stress that is draining you, maybe even physical symptoms. My pain and my pressure on that flight exposed a deeper problem and led me to healing. David's pain and pressure exposed his spiritual need and led him to healing. You may be at that same threshold.

Now Davids' had a happy ending, one which may be exactly where you will find yours. He says, "Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord' - and You forgave the guilt of my sin."

God sometimes lets the pressure build so we will finally deal with what is really wrong inside us -- the sin we have never taken care of. David went to the Soul Doctor and came away a man forgiven and clean. That could happen to you -- that same liberation -- if you will finally let go of your pride and go to the Forgiving Place, the cross where Jesus loved you so much that He died for all the sins you have ever committed. When He said, "Father forgive them" from that cross, He was including you.

If you will put your total trust in Jesus Christ to be your Savior from your sin, you're clean. All this pressure and all this pain has been to let you know there is something wrong deep down inside, the deadly infection of sin that only Jesus can cure.

Here in this most painful and stressful time, you are suddenly on the edge of the healing your soul has always needed. You are face-to-face with Dr. Jesus.

Today's Daily Wisdom is written by Ron Hutchcraft, based on his popular "A Word With You" broadcast (Available in transcripts or RealAudio format.) Ron Hutchcraft Ministries has been on-line with GCN since February, 1996, providing practical answers to real life issues.

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.