Bearing Up

From time to time, I hear the comment, "Well, we all know God will not give us more than we can bear."  Usually, someone is responding to a painful personal struggle, a series of overwhelming circumstances of trouble, or someone else's trials and difficulties for which the answer is "God doesn't give us more than we can bear."

In support of that understanding of God, suffering, and God's role in suffering folks will quote 1 Corinthians 10:13:  No testing (temptation) 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.  (New Revised Standard Version)

I don't think the passage from 1 Corinthians and the statement that" God doesn't give us more than we can handle" are connected.  In the Corinthians passage, the emphasis is on God being faithful to provide what we need to face, endure and work our way through the times of difficulty, even times of testing and temptation we will all face.  Christians and people of faith are not exempt from these times.  We are not shielded from suffering, but we have help in the midst of the sufferings to get through them.  God is faithful to offer ways through to everyone.  I call that offer "grace with us".

The statement, "God doesn't give us more than we can bear" is and always will be a way we try to explain suffering that comes to us.  I think it is a trite explanation that finally makes God the author and giver of the suffering rather than the One who walks with us and leads us through the suffering. 

There are too many biblical examples of God that contradict the  perspective of the statement.  Take for example, The Good Shepherd of Psalm 23 and John 10.  Take Luke 15 with the parables of lost coins, lost sheep and the lost sons and consider the shepherd who goes out seeking and the father who goes out to seek and welcome wayward sons.

If we as parents refrain from inflicting pain upon our children, how much more will the Loving Father refrain from inflicting pain upon his children up to what they can bear.

Granted there is suffering that breaks our hearts and our lives...and breaks the very heart of God.

Having written all this,  I know there are folks who will hold out for a God who dumps stuff on human beings
I choose to trust that God is one who dares to suffer with us and for us and along side us in order to guide us through.