No temptation has
overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not
allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will
provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it (I
Corinthians 10:13 NASB).
God has promised that He will
not allow any trial to be more than we can handle. The question is; how does God do this? Does He limit the temptation or increase our
ability to endure?
The
commentator Matthew Henry wrote, “for either our testings will be in proportion
to our strength, or strength will be supplied in proportion to our
temptation.” In other words, he will
either limit our trial according to our ability to endure, or increase our
ability to endure consummate with the level of the temptation. I am not sure how others view this, but I
think I prefer the first scenario over the second one. Unfortunately, at least in my own life, it
appears God may lean toward increasing our perseverance rather than eliminating
he source of my tribulation. Why do you
think God does it this way? Let’s see of
we can gain some insight by looking at an incident in the life of the Apostle
Paul, a man pretty familiar with suffering.
For we do not want you to be unaware,
brethren, of our affliction which came to
us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so
that we despaired even of life (II Corinthians 1:8 NASB). He was in pretty dire straights. What was God’s purpose? Indeed,
we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in
ourselves, but in God who raises the dead (v. 9). He was learning to trust in God. The One who had raised the dead could do
anything. Often it is only when we come
to the end of ourselves (our ability cope) do we find out that God is
sufficient. “Our extremity is God’s
opportunity” (MH). Anytime we come to
end of our own ability to manage a crisis, we find out that God is there.
How much is
too much, in relation to trials and temptations? God answers this question, not us. On most every occasion where I told the Lord, I can’t do it anymore; I was
wrong. I found out I could. God knew me better than I knew myself. The period between feeling like I couldn’t
and knowing I could, was a time of
transition from self-sufficiency to a God dependency. It is not rocket science my friends, God
gives us the experiences we need so that we will not trust in ourselves, but in
Him.
Pray with me. Lord, give me the grace to trust in
You. In Your name, I pray.
Ken
Barnes, the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places” YWAM Publishing
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
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