A Door of Escape

This past weekend was very trying for me. My daughter was down with a severe cold, I also had a cold and sore throat that had practically seized my voice. It was also the weekend of our annual women’s convention in Church and there were expectations for me to attend the meeting, of course. In between taking my daughter to the hospital, running domestic chores and grocery shopping, cooking, losing my voice and God knows what else, I was pressed and squeezed beyond measure. As if that was not enough as I was returning from the hospital with my daughter, I stopped by a supermarket to get some smoked chicken that my husband had requested for his stew and guess what, I suffered a burst tyre! I had a spare tyre, I thought, but when I lifted it out, I was told that there was no air in it! Oh! What a day! All the while my children were in the car and the pressure mounted. As they say, when it rains, it pours…

My lucky break was that my car incident occurred a few meters away from a tyre repairer’s shop. Just goes to show that when we are that hemmed in and pressed, God will always put lucky breaks i.e. doors of escape for our liberty and ease. The prayer therefore is that we may have the grace to see these breaks and open doors in the midst of the pressures of life. The easiest thing to do in the midst of challenges is to get anxious, worry, depressed, discouraged, complain, curse, etc. Now remember that anyone can do all these and more, but the uncommon thing to do, which is not easy, but the saving grace for those who would, is to be controlled. That is why self - control for me is one of the chief fruits of the spirit for the believer. People who fall apart easily with the slightest provocation or pressure will not see the lucky breaks that God has planted deliberately for us. Do you think that God was not aware of how my weekend was going to turn out? He knew, but you see, He did not save me from the pressures because He knew that I have come to that point in Him where I should be able to ‘see’ the doors of escape on the path He has carved for me. I may not have known it, but He knew. Besides, pressures are the processes by which we are refined and pruned for greater productivity. It is also the process by which He tests our strength and resilience. Someone said, “If you dodge the pressures of life, you will miss the pleasures” God does not save us from every trouble because He trusts us to get out of it unscathed. Troubles, challenges, problems, whatever name we chose to call them are a demand from God to get up and get out of it stronger and better. They are opportunities to show off His glory and power in our lives to the world. That is why when those who do not believe in Him are saying that there is a casting down we shall say that we are lifted!

Next time you are hemmed in and pressed on all sides and you are tempted to be sad or grumble and complain choose rather to ask God for the door of escape and open your spiritual and physical eyes to see what He has deliberately planted right before or near you. The biblical account of Hager in the wilderness is an apt illustration of my point. She was sent out of her home with her son by her supposed husband into the wilderness with only a little bread and water. The bread and the water finished and the pressure mounted. What am I going to do now? How am I to feed my son in this wilderness, she may have asked herself hopelessly. Hager gave in to die as most of us do in dire situations, but God showed up and opened her eyes to the pool of water just around the corner. The wilderness was not programmed to kill her neither was the rejection and the abandonment of her husband. The devil meant it for evil, yes, but God turned it around for good and made her experience Him in a dimension that was fresh and new. And that is why I am persuaded, dear reader, that your present challenges will not consume you. You will come out stronger and finer at the end of the experience because surely there is an end and it is in your favor in Jesus name.