#PressureCooking101

Even a novice cook can create a great meal using The Pressure Cooker.  Just by following the instructions that come with the cooker, one can make a delicious, nutritious meal.  The principal of pressure cooking allows the heat and steam created inside the pot to force seasonings inside the meat and tenderize it at the same time, ready to serve.  Timing is important.  If you are not watching and the heat increases, the lid can blow off and that can make a mess.

Back in the history of Israel when the people were put in slavery by Egypt, it can be considered that God had put them in a pressure cooker.  He was watching over the 400 years that the pot was on the fire.  Finally, the hearts of the people had been tenderized and they reached out to their God for relief.  That was when Pharaoh was placed in the pressure cooker.  God sent nine plagues to tenderize Pharaoh's heart, but it did not work.  This man hardened his heart with each plague and became more determined to do harm to God's chosen people.  When the tenth plague of the death of the first born was sent that was when the lid blew off and those six million people left the slavery of Egypt and headed for the promised land.

You and I are often put in the pressure cooker.  Each situation is perfectly designed for each believer in order to tenderize us.  While we are busily comparing ourselves to each other and coming out looking pretty good, God knows our hearts and sees that changes need to be made. You can't, by the best intentions and the strongest will power, change your stripes. Even if you could, your standards are not as good as God's.  He has good in mind, yet, we are in the pain of the pressure cooker and cannot see what God sees.  We just want the heat to be lowered and to be taken out of the pot.

We have a choice to make.  We can resist and harden out hearts or we can relent and let God have His way. The God who sees is constantly watching and knows exactly how much heat and how long to keep the pressure on to make you ready to serve. The very act of trusting God in the hard, hot places is what faith is all about. As Job said, "Tho He slay me, yet, will I trust Him."

Are you ready to serve?