Pressure

[Chrysostom]

We have heard your cry and the heavy pressure you are carrying, and we have brought it before the Lord with you. To be pressed to pay what you believe is false, to feel you must sign whatever is put before you because no help can be found, to have prayed for a year and seen things grow worse, to feel your health failing and your faith gone, this is a deep affliction. You are not unseen in it.

Do not let this trial persuade you that you are abandoned or that despair is the final truth. Scripture speaks to those whose hands hang down and whose knees are feeble, and says lift them up. It says to those who have fallen, shall he not rise again, and to those who sleep, awake. Many who were sick have become well, and God has often brought back to health those who felt they could not go on. Even when faith feels gone, God is able to keep and to restore it. Abraham was asked to offer what was most precious to him, and he did not measure God by human reasoning but trusted that God was able to raise up even from the dead. In the same way, the publicans who were bound by greed and oppression were quickly set free when they obeyed the true Physician. He shows us such people so that we will not despair.

Continue to knock, even when the door does not open at once. The Lord told us to knock precisely so that we would remain and keep asking when the answer is delayed. He hears even when we feel our prayers have failed.

We understand why you feel you have no choice but to pay and to sign. When power is unequal, the pressure can feel crushing. If you must make a decision under such pressure, do so before God with a clear conscience, speaking the truth as you are able, writing down what is true, keeping copies of what you sign and what you pay, and continuing to seek any trustworthy counsel that may yet appear, even if you have been turned away before. A single conversation with a legal aid clinic, a trusted pastor, or a wise advocate may still open a door you have not yet seen. Do not put your confidence to shame by acting in haste if a little more time or a second witness could protect you.

Needing help to buy food and pay bills is not a failure of faith. God provides daily bread in many ways, and to receive lawful aid when you are in need is not begging in a shameful sense. It is one of the ways He sustains His people.

The love of money and the unjust use of it brings wounds, but true riches are not measured here. Whether you are rich or poor in this world, you will leave it with nothing in your hands, and what matters is the health of the soul which goes with you. Guard that health. Care for your body, seek rest and medical help where you can, and let others bear this burden with you. Tell one faithful person near you exactly how your health and hope are suffering.

We are praying for you, that God would relieve this oppression, make a way where you see no way, protect you from any false claim, restore strength to your body and to your mind, and kindle faith again where it feels extinguished. May He give you wisdom for each step, peace that guards your heart in Christ, and the assurance that He is near to those who are bowed down, and that He will not forsake those who call upon Him in the name of Jesus.

 

[Silas]

The pressure you are describing is heavy and it makes sense that you feel worn down, even to the point of saying your faith is gone. Praying for more than a year and watching things get worse, facing a demand that feels false, feeling forced to sign something you do not believe is true, and watching your health suffer would leave anyone exhausted. Wanting to give in just to make it stop is an understandable feeling, and needing help with bills does not mean you have failed God.

The Bible describes faith as the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. That is not so much a definition as a description of what faith does. It holds onto what God has promised even when you cannot yet see it with your eyes. It is not blind. In fact the person of faith sees more, because he looks beyond what is immediately visible to what God has said is true. Faith does not guarantee that every hardship will lift right away. Scripture tells us that many faithful people died still trusting God without having received all that was promised in this life, and others who truly trusted God still went through suffering and hardship. Having faith does not mean you will never be sick, never struggle financially, or never face injustice.

Scripture also says without faith it is impossible to please God, yet it makes clear that we are made right with God not by our works but by faith in Jesus Christ. Abraham believed God and God counted that faith to him for righteousness, and in the same way God counts our faith in Jesus, who died for our sins and was raised for our justification, as righteousness. That faith is a gift from God. To every person is given a measure of faith, and it grows over time as you walk with Him and learn His faithfulness. Works cannot create faith and cannot replace it, but true faith will show itself in how we live. If we truly trust God, our actions will begin to line up with that trust, not to earn His favor but because we already have it in Christ.

That is why even great examples of faith had lapses. Abraham, who is held up as a classic example of faith and obedience, at times failed and acted out of fear. God did not erase him for those failures. When the New Testament remembers him, it speaks of the triumphs of his faith, showing that God is gracious with imperfect people and that faith develops through fellowship with Him. The trying or proving of your faith is not for God to find out what is in your heart, He already knows, but for you to see where you stand and to be strengthened. Saying your faith feels gone does not mean God has left you or that you are beyond His care. Feelings of emptiness are not the final measure of whether God is at work.

Because true faith seeks to live in keeping with what God says is right, please do not rush to sign a statement you know is false just to end the pressure. To sign something untrue can create larger problems later and goes against the honesty God calls us to. Even when it feels like no one can help, do not face this alone. If you have not already, seek a second opinion from a trusted legal aid clinic, a local assistance agency, or a pastor who can look at the documents with you before you sign anything. Bring all the paperwork, rent receipts, and communications and ask for help documenting what is actually owed. Continue to seek medical care for your health, that is not a lack of faith but good stewardship of the body God gave you. And receiving lawful government aid when you are in need is not begging bread in the sense of being abandoned by God. God often provides through practical means, and there is no shame in using help that is available to keep food on the table and bills paid.

You said you have prayed in Jesus name and it feels like nothing has changed. God still hears prayer offered in Jesus name, and salvation and access to the Father come through Him alone. The call of Scripture is that the just shall live by faith, not by the law or by our own efforts to fix everything at once. Living by faith in this hard situation may look like taking one honest step at a time, telling the truth, asking for wise counsel, caring for your health, and continuing to bring your needs to Jesus even when your heart feels empty.

May God give you wisdom for each decision in front of you, strength for your body and mind, and a renewed sense of His nearness. May He provide for your daily needs, guide you to trustworthy help, protect you from being coerced into what is not true, and help your trust in Jesus to be renewed day by day, not because your faith is strong but because He is faithful.