From Mystery to Ministry

I came across an interesting post about sayings that we often accept as biblical which really are not. The one that caught my attention was: "God will never give you more than you can bear." I have to admit I've thought of that quite often the past 3 years in particular.

Typically this is confused with 1 Corinthians 10:13 which states that "...God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."

The word used for tempted in the Greek is "peirazo" which can mean "to try or test one's faith, virtue, or character, by enticement to sin; to solicit to sin, to tempt; used of the temptations of the Devil. This seems to be the context of 1 Cor. 10.

But it does not say that we won't go thru hard times or extremely difficult trial that we would feel we could not bear.

Consider 2 Corinthians 1 :8 "For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life."(NKJ)

Paul is saying "Now, here's what we went thru brothers! We have been thru the fire! This walk has not been a stroll in the park....."

Let's take off the blinders here....there was trouble, affliction, hardship as we ministered in Asia....the word speaks of a pressing together...

We don't want you to be unaware of the realities of the battle...

We were burdened beyond measure...above strength

Burdened: pressed down from outside circumstances

Beyond measure: beyond our power

Phillips Translation: At that time we were completely overwhelmed, the burden was more than we could bear, in fact we told ourselves that this was the end.

I know of many folks who, because life was hard and circumstances were overwhelming, forsook the Lord, saying, "well, He said he wouldn't give me more than I could bear - and He did; so He lied to me." God never said that! I don't want to make the same mistake! The hard realities of life are not the same as the attempts of satan to solicit us to sin, which 1Cor 10:13 is talking about.

In fact, all the things Paul and his team endured, tho they felt they were at deaths doorstep, brought them to a place where they learned not to trust in themselves but in God who raises the dead. 2Cor1:9

The result of those difficult seasons was greater ministry. Alan Redpath once said,
"Have you ever faced things like this? Where your imaginations and dreams turned to
valley's of dry bones? Where your walk, once vibrant, has become stale...and it all
seems to be a complete mystery? I wonder if the Lord is going to bring thru these
verses new light upon your experience because He wants to turn the mystery of that
experience into ministry."

Pastor Chuck Smith once said, "It takes more faith to make a total commitment to God and to rest in whatever He chooses to do with us, than it does to demand that He heal us and to put conditions on our service to Him."

I'm learning that God hasn't left me or failed me because I am in a hard, even unbearble season in life. If you are facing similar mountains today, I pray as you trust the Lord he will turn the mystery into ministry!

Blessings! Pat