Has anyone ever said to you, when you've been going through a difficult situation..."Don't worry. God only gives you what you can bear."? I've heard that said before, and, in my own ignorance, thought it was simply a cultural adaptation of God's Word. And yet, this week, I found the Biblical base for this expression (I think) in I Corinthians 10:13.
13No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it. (The Message translation)
Since my discovery, this verse has been echoing in my brain. When I first read the NIV translation, the word test is not in the text. The key word is temptation, which is why I thought that over time people had altered this verse and used it simply to encourage those going through difficult trials and bearing almost unbearable burdens. At first read, to me, these words were not giving advice about how to bear up under stress but how to resist sin. How interesting, I thought, that along the way the focus moved away from "deliver us from temptation" to "deliver us from hardship". How typically self-centered of us...
Yet really, those two are one and the same, aren't they? Because what I see happening in times of great trial and hardship is that faith is put to the test. Questions arise as to "Why is this happening to me?"..."Why is God punishing me?"..."Why must I suffer so?"..."Isn't there an easier way out?" And if believers are pushed to the breaking point with our faith, isn't that the greatest temptation of all? To turn our backs on God because he's not being good enough or big enough or victorious enough for our earthly battles?
I need only look to my friend, who has been going through a horrific divorce for the past 19 months. Every time she thinks it will finally be resolved, her spouse throws another roadblock into the process. I know she's cried out to God time and again for deliverance from this situation. I know because I've prayed that same prayer on her behalf. A year ago she admitted to me that she was too angry at God to go to church. She was a good person. Why wasn't he taking care of things?
Those words haunted me...that this gentle, good, faithful woman could have such doubts at a time when she needed God most. And I know there is more ugliness to come in this situation. The divorce is going to trial at the end of the month, and it will be no holds barred as custody and possession of the house are items on the docket. Yet the amazing thing is that her faith has grown stronger through this experience...not that you would wish this experience on anyone...yet it is an encouraging thing to see that in spite of how beaten and broken down she was her faith has slowly been regenerating her will to walk the path that has been set before her...and transforming her life in the process. That's a good thing...a God thing.
These words also speak to my brother's situation at the moment. My sister-in-law is due any moment with their third child, and their youngest has been in the hospital since Thursday with a strange fever and facial swelling in and around the eye. At first they thought the infection had not gotten into the bloodstream. Now they're not so sure. And they're thinking that on top of the strep infection and deep cavity sinus infection that this all started with Flu B. So little Logan is still in the hospital, my sister in law is at any moment due to go into that same hospital, and yet her update email this morning was filled with thanksgiving for the prayers and support of family and friends who have come around their family during this crazy time...of testing.
So hear these words again, this time from the NRSV: "No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it." Amen. Let it be.
Rachel, oh so true! Praying for your friend!
Posted by: Carol | March 16, 2009 at 10:28 AM