No no no, you can't handle this

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. – 1 Corinthians 10:13


If verses had feelings, I think this one would lament over being constantly misunderstood. Often times we think back to this, especially during times of trouble, and think of it in reference to our own personal strengths. We look at it as God’s kudos to our ability to handle tough times and when it’s over we thank God for believing in us if we succeed, or questioning His confidence if we don’t. Yet this verse is not about what we can or can not accomplish, as the rest of the Bible makes very clear. Verses like Philippians 4:13, 2 Corinthians 12:9, and Isaiah 40:29. Even 1 Corinthians 10:12 warns us not to become too confident in our own power.

So what is this verse about, if not about our strength? What is our “ability”? I believe it is our measure of faith. James 1:2-3 tells us that trials are considered the testing of our faith. And it is through faith that God can make good on His promises. Do I truly believe that I can do all things through Christ? Sure, I may have the faith to get through a bad day or two, but what about dealing with the betrayal of a friend, the loss of a loved one or supporting myself and my family through difficult financial times? What will my attitude look like in those situations? When faced with issues of pride, greed, selfishness, lust, anger or bitterness can I pray for wisdom as James instructed, and pray without doubting?

Many times we must allow ourselves to get to the place where we realize that we are insufficient to make it through the struggle before God can provide us an escape. James also reminds us that “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (4:6) and “humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.” (4:10). When we humble ourselves, we give Him free reign to do what needs to be done, with no interference from us and proud minds. In reality, there is no circumstance that we can’t bear, as there is nothing that is too big for Him. The only limitation is in how much we trust Him to provide for us in all situations.

Reality Check

My job has become a big source of discontentment and frustration for me. I think in many ways it always has been. Even before I moved into a help desk position, people would come to me for help with things they could just as easily do on their own. Although, now that my job title includes the word "help" in it, it seems all I do is spend my day cleaning up other people's messes. And generally it is the same handful of people. I continue to delete the mistakes of the same people, reset the same passwords, explain the same steps to the same person for the umpteenth time. My impatient nature often gets the best of me, and I find myself praying, asking God for the patience to deal with the people who just don't get it. It's at that time that God reminds me that I've been praying for patience since I was a child. I've learned that lesson many times, yet I continue to fail and need to ask Him to fix my problems. It puts my job situation in a much different perspective.

Q and A

"Do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." Luke 12:11-12

Peter tells us that we should always be prepared to give an answer for the hope we have (1 Peter 3:15). And for the most part, I think I am, if asked the right question... It's fairly easy to give an answer as to why I believe in Jesus. I've experienced Him, I live in Him, I sing about it every day. But what about the things that I understand but have a hard time putting into words? Questions about theology or doctrine I don't know well enough to discuss, or issues and questions about God's motive that I can't answer without speculating. What about those who don't ask at all but still need to hear?

My talents lie in strengthening and encouraging other Christians, but my skills are often lacking in reaching out to the non-Christian. Sometimes I find myself shying away from opportunities to speak, especially when there is a small window of opportunity, because I don't know the answer and am afraid of showing the person a false image of God. I worry because I don't know what direction the conversation will take, and therefore avoid conversation at all. When I think of being prepared, as Peter said, I feel like I need to have every word for every possible outcome ready before I speak my first word. But I must remember Jesus' promise to His disciples. Sometimes we are taught, not only at that very hour, but at that very moment, what we are to say. This is how we can be certain that the words are from the Spirit, and are not our own. And sometimes the Spirit won't give us the answer right away. Not because God has failed us, but because the best thing the person could hear at that moment is "I don't know." As Christians, we do not have all the answers, nor will we ever have them all. But we must be willing to seek out those answers and share them with others, knowing with confidence that our knowledge comes from our Lord.

Miracles

Sometimes I forget that God is a God of miracles. The days of prophets and apostles are gone, and thus so are the miraculous gifts given to man. But God doesn't need the hands of man to accomplish great tasks. But he does need our obedience and prayers. Not need as in He can't do these things without them. But, as He did with Abraham and Moses, God can change His mind when we align our will with His and ask Him to make it so with boldness and confidence.

The prayer of Jabez was grossly misused several years ago, but its lesson is no less true. He prayed for God to increase his land, not for the sake of fame and riches, but for health and safety, and God granted his request. We do not know why God said yes, but we know that Jabez's prayer pleased him. Later in 1 Chronicles, we see that God answered the prayers of the Reubenites, Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh and gave them victory in war because they trusted in Him (5:20). It's comforting to know that God still works in that way. James tells us that when we ask for something, we should already believe it has been done. Sometimes that type of faith can be harder than faith in anything else. We've become so jaded in the disappointments brought on by the people of this world, we hold back in our prayers because we don't want to set ourselves up for disappointment. Yet in doing so, we forget the true nature of God. He is not like man, who inevitably lets you down, either purposefully or unintentionally. God will always give us what we need, and when He says no, it is because He has something better in store. Like the Israelites, we must trust in Him.

Recently, I have been making an effort to be more bold in my prayer life. This is especially difficult for me, as I'm generally not bold in asking for anything in general, let alone from God. But twice in the last few months I have prayed with confidence for the healing of another, and both times God made it so. I am continually amazed at God's grace and tenderness, as He reminds me that He is still the God who does miracles and patiently waits for me to be ready for Him to work miracles in my life.

"The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and wait there... Then Moses went up on the mountain... The glory of the LORD dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud." - Exodus 24: 12, 15-16

Our worldly nature has caused us to grow accustomed to receiving things right away. Technology has advanced so much that instead of creating new things, we just continue to find ways to make pre-existing things faster. Society has given up on being pure and chaste for a lifestyle of instant sexual gratification. Children miss out on great childhood experiences because they're in such a hurry to grow up. Psychics, fortune tellers and astrologers continue to thrive because everyone wants to know about the new job, the new boyfriend or other new big life change right now.

Sadly, we've allowed this mindset to affect how we interact with God. We send up our prayers to God and expect to find the answer right in front of us when we open our eyes after the amen. Somehow patience no longer applies once we've made our requests known. Yet God never promised an answer right away. And even when we have an answer, there is no guarantee of an immediate delivery. God called Moses to come to Him, yet it wasn't until the seventh day that Moses was allowed to come to the presence of God. I imagine Moses didn't have much else to do during the first six days, other than sit around and wait. Sure, he had Joshua to keep him company. But his entire purpose for being where he was was to wait for God to call, and so that is what he did. The Bible doesn't tell us what went through his mind at that time or how he spent those days. Did he spend them in prayer? Did he go over the laws with Joshua? Or did he groan and grumble and wish he was back off the mountain and with everyone else? Maybe he sat longing for his wife. Maybe he sat worrying about the safety of the people, and if Aaron and the others would take care of them. Or maybe he just sat humbly, because He knew God was coming.

Do I have the patience to wait for things promised me? Do I doubt God will use me in some way and think "well, if it hasn't happened yet...?" There are many opportunities I've missed because I did not have the patience to see them to fruition. Yet God is faithful. And one day I will hopefully learn to wait on the mountain until the time He deems it fitting to call me to Him and show me what I am to do.

I am a farmer

"A farmer went out to sow his seed..." - Luke 8:5

The focus of this parable is usually placed on the seed. Yet, as I worked in my garden yesterday, my mind was drawn to the farmer. With this being the first time I've attempted to grow produce using seeds, I carefully read the package and tried to plan out how to follow the instructions with the limited tools I had. But when I thought of the farmer, I realized he wasn't concerned with keeping the seed 6" apart with 1/4" of soil covering it. When he planted, he took all the seeds he had and covered as much ground as possible, whether it was fertile, rocky, thorny, or didn't even make it to soil. Many people today would say that he was being wasteful, since only a quarter of his seeds landed anywhere that could be useful. But when I finished sowing my seed (and, admittedly, I just kind of dug a trench and scattered the seeds in it), I realized I had barely used any of the seeds in my packet in my small garden. Are my unused potential plants any better off than the farmer's seeds who did not reach their potential?

When remembering that the seed in the parable represents the Word of God, the contrast is even greater. The farmer in the parable took what he had and shared it with every place he could find, regardless of the likelihood it would grow into something fruitful. How often do we instead carefully plan who we're going to share the Word with and how? We claim we want to concentrate our efforts in places where we will be most effective but often we're idly waiting for the next great opportunity to come along. And what if our carefully planned efforts fail? In my garden, once I realize my seeds aren't producing plants, it may be too late to sow another round and try again. Are we letting chances pass us by because we don't recognize the potential? We never know who will be receptive to the gospel. The only way to ensure we reach everyone we should is by sharing the gospel with everyone we meet.

Haiti wrap up

I've been trying to find the words to say to describe my experience in Haiti, but I have been a person of few words lately. So instead, I will copy and paste what I wrote in my wrap up to our team.



I think I am still in the process of processing. Before we left, I had been reading Ecclesiastes. For some reason, I started reading something else while in Haiti, but while we were on the plane I went back to Ecclesiastes. I started at chapter 5 (which is one of my favorite Bible passages) and read the rest of the book. It was beautiful how relevant it all was to what we’d just experienced, both regarding those who live in Haiti and those of us who want to help them.

Like Gretchen, I am being very careful not to get caught up in a mountaintop experience. It’s so easy to feel motivated after having a spiritual experience. Retreats and Creation are great examples. I’m always so excited when I get home, and ready to make big changes. The hard part is keeping that motivation after I get home. Often it fades after a few months, weeks, or even days. Like everyone else, I’m eager to return to Haiti. I’m eager to continue the good work that’s being done there. I want to be like Paul and be able to say “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7). But Ecclesiastes 5:5 warns us that is better to not make promises to God than to make a promise and not keep it. So I have decided to use the next month as a time of prayer and reflection, to process everything we’ve experienced and not make emotional decisions.

As for my experience with the world since returning home, other than an incident in the airport, on Sunday I felt pretty ok. Even driving in NYC didn’t bother me, and the few hours I spent awake were spent talking to friends. Monday morning I had mixed emotions. I woke up in a panic because I thought I had a parking ticket, then moved my car and took a lukewarm shower (the hot water only worked for about 2 minutes, so it was pretty similar to a Haitian shower). After my shower I started working, and I think that’s when everything hit me. Before I’d left, I’d been frustrated with my job and the users I supported. That frustration came back pretty much right away, but it was a little different. I just had a hard time dealing with people panicking over relatively small things, when there were so many big issues to be taken care of elsewhere. Even my excitement to spend the day in NYC was gone (although that was partly due to the weather) and I left the city without doing anything other than eat breakfast at a Dominican restaurant. My drive still took 15 hours, though, since I was very unmotivated to return home. Coming in to work on Tuesday, I was excited to share my experience with my friends, but found myself very unwilling to talk to the average person who stopped by to ask me about it, since I knew they wouldn’t get it. Focusing is very difficult, although I’m glad that my mom’s birthday and our young adult retreat is happening in the next few days, since it gives me something productive to focus my energy on, instead of being completely restless.

I don’t really know what all this means, since, like I said, I’m still processing. I do know that one of the lessons I was supposed to learn through this experience is that God can use us no matter where we are. A couple times while we were in Haiti, people joked about sending Haitian missionaries to the States. And while the majority of us aren’t lacking in physical needs, there is definitely a spiritual deficit in our country. Instead of seeing the hideousness in what we do, I am working on seeing the beauty in our country, and ways I can increase that beauty in places that are less desirable. God wants us to make the most of the little we have, and if I can prove myself with what He’s given me here, maybe He will be pleased enough to send me back to Haiti to do His work there, for whatever amount of time He deems appropriate.

Based on Steve's sermon

The people in the New Testament who loved Jesus were often sinners. Today, those are the ones who reject Him. Jesus surrounded Himself with unholy people. His disciples today try to turn the unrighteous away. The Jesus the world sees is not the Jesus who truly is.

Jesus used parables to get the audience to agree and become likeminded (Luke 15:1-10). He understood His audience and spoke to them in ways they understood, not over their heads.