“There isn’t any temptation that
you have experienced which is unusual for humans. God, who faithfully keeps his
promises, will not allow you to be
tempted beyond your power to resist. But when you are tempted, he will also
give you the ability to endure the temptation as your way of escape.”
~1 Corinthians 10:13 (GW [italics not original])
There is much confusion in
Christian circles regarding this passage above. Some people believe, quite
erroneously I think, that it refers to our blessed God-sponsored strength to
overcome any trial. To a certain extent this may be true. But there are always
exceptions to rules in life.
First of all, we need to
understand the context of this passage, as a summary verse for 1 Corinthians 10:1-12—which
has as its focus, idolatry. The central theme is sin, and temptation to sin.
It is quite a different context,
then, to consider this passage in terms of some of those burdens we have which
are too heavy to bear. If we desire strength to bear our burdens, those that
have nothing to do with sin, for instance grief, this is actually the wrong
verse to encourage us and urge us on.
This verse above simply encourages
us to seek the Lord when we are tempted; when we are tempted to sin—again,
having nothing to do with burdens too difficult to bear—this verse offers a
beautifully solemn promise. But it is off-point much of the time when sin isn’t
the issue.
There are Some Burdens Too Difficult to
Bear
It is a false and misleading
theology to consider the gospel is the answer for every single confounding
problem. Faith is the only way to endure, that is for certain, but Jesus never
promised an answer for all our deepest problems, as we seem to need them.
We may wonder why Job,
Lamentations, the Prophets, Ecclesiastes, and the Psalms have endured to
infiltrate and somehow despoil our otherwise ‘positive’ doctrine.
There is much more of the Bible
that focuses on the inexplicable and incomprehensible and unconscionable facts
of life that would quickly deform and destroy a superficial faith. Yet, we are
called to a deep faith, not a superficial one; not one characterised by
flippant and clichéd answers to every problem.
Our faith must work in real life—up
against real, even, and at times, unsolvable problems.
Ask the person deep in their
grief, having lost a partner, a son, a daughter, a marriage, a career, their
life direction, or having simply lost hope—is God big enough?
There are times they cannot answer
in the affirmative, but God does get them through. He gets us through. But
during certain periods of these burdensome seasons we cannot go on and we do
give up; for an hour, a day, a week or more. We suffer some sort of spiritual
fatigue. God understands. And the sun rises again each day. Each day is a fresh
chance; each day, by God’s magnificent grace.
Beyond the Burdens
There are some problems, with even
our faith in God, we have no answer for. Some problems will break us. But
destruction doesn’t mean comprehensive or ultimate defeat. And this is where we
draw hope.
Inevitably the time comes when we
do get past the burden that we couldn’t rationalise.
Later, much later, we see God’s
faithfulness to bring us through. But it is insensitive on us when we hear
people advise us flippantly, with clichéd nuances on the scriptures, however
well-intentioned they are.
***
We must be careful not to bend
Scripture out of shape. God will not allow us to be tempted (regarding sin)
beyond our power to resist temptation. But that has nothing to do with burdens,
like grief. Some burdens we are asked to endure will break us, but, be assured, God will pick us
up!
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
Graphic Credit: Ruan.
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