No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it. [1 Corinthians 10:13 (NET)]
From today’s verse, you might think I’m going to say that God will never give us more than we can bear. That Christianese sentiment, however, comes from 1 Corinthians 10 and is about temptation, not difficulties and afflictions. The belief that God will never give us any burden or challenge we can’t bear puts the emphasis on us and our strength rather than where it should be—on God and His power! In 2 Corinthians, Paul wrote of being so burdened beyond his strength that he despaired of even living. Clearly, there will be times in our lives when we will be given far more than we can possibly bear by ourselves.
Florida is pretty much flat as a pancake and my husband and I can hike and bike long distances with little or no effort. We thought we were nearly invincible until we returned to the rolling hills of the Midwest and the mountain trails of our beloved Rockies. As I trudged up my first steep hill, I was sure God made it longer and higher in my absence; all I wanted was for someone to carry me!
Although I’ve been working on getting stronger since returning north, God’s spiritual training is quite different from physical training. Unlike a cross-country coach, God doesn’t train us on steeper and steeper hills so we can eventually run up them without needing to stop and catch our breath. He keeps challenging us with uphill climbs so that we learn to trust Him to raise us up. We’re not supposed to be lifting the heavy weight of life’s burdens; that’s God’s job. When we encounter the steep grades, he doesn’t expect us to climb them by ourselves; he wants us to learn to let Him empower us. Our faith isn’t demonstrated by how strong we are but by how readily we recognize that we’re too weak to ascend life’s hills and peaks by ourselves. Our faith is revealed by our willingness to trust God enough to let Him bear our burdens, lift us over the barriers, and get us up the mountains.
Without topographical challenges, I’d overestimated my fitness and strength until my first trek from the lake up to our house (100 paces and every one of them uphill) left me exhausted. When we live in a spiritual flatland with no challenges, we tend to overrate our strength as well. Mistakenly, we think we’re strong enough to conquer life’s trials on our own and stop depending on God’s power. He regularly gives us hills, not to get us powerful enough to climb them alone but to have faith enough to give every uphill climb to Him. We’ll then realize that it is our faith, not our strength, that carries and sustains us.
Thank you, God, for the challenges of life, not because they strengthen us enough to go it alone, but because they strengthen our trust and dependence on you.
Devotions of the Heart 