Last Thursday, in “Preparing the Mango, Part 1”, we saw that when we make the effort to focus beyond our own circumstances, we will often realize they aren’t so bad after all.
But wait. We’re talking about serious problems here. Can we truly expect that focusing on the needs of others will shrink back that cancerous tumor? Do we truly believe that focusing on others will bring back the spouse who felt that greener pastures could be found elsewhere? Will it provide the financial miracle I need?
In a nutshell, the answer is “no”. We’re not talking about resolving the problem here. We’re talking about putting it into manageable perspective: We’re talking about seeing it from–God’s perspective…
In “Preparing the Mango, Part 1”, I told the story of how my husband was lost because of the problems with his computer. However, the moment I pushed him out of his comfort zone by handing him a mango and a knife, his problems suddenly seemed like nothing at all.
As you can see in this silly illustration, cutting my mango didn’t take away his computer problems. They just brought them into perspective, making him realize that his problems were, indeed, manageable.
We often hear it said that God will never give us more than we can handle. This is taken from an often miss-quoted Bible text found in 1 Cor. 10:13: “…God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
Friends, this promise is oh, so true! God will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we can resist. But please notice that this doesn’t expand to include all troubles. Rather, we are often told that we will have troubles, some of them beyond what we can humanly bear. Consider the following texts:
“We were weighed down with a load of suffering that was so far beyond our strength that we were afraid we might not survive.” (2 Corinthians 1:8 CEB)
“I’m worn out, completely crushed; I groan because of my miserable heart.” (Psalms 38:8 CEB)
“My wrongdoings are stacked higher than my head; they are a weight that’s way too heavy for me.” (Psalms 38:4 CEB)
Doesn’t exactly sound like God will never give us more than we can bear, does it?
Elsewhere we also read that Elijah was told: “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” (1 Kings 19:7) Interestingly, it is an angel of God who says these words to Elijah!
As much as we’d like to believe it, God does allow suffering, sometimes more than we can bear on our own. You know this. You have likely already experienced this. So where is the good news?
Above, we quoted a statement by Paul where he reports, “We were weighed down with a load of suffering that was so far beyond our strength that we were afraid we might not survive.” (2 Corinthians 1:8 CEB), Paul goes on to say, “It certainly seemed to us as if we had gotten the death penalty. This was so that we would have confidence in God, who raises the dead, instead of ourselves.” (2 Corinthians 1:9 CEB)
In other words, Paul knew that trying to handle these problems on his own was beyond his strength, and therefore, he used the trials to remind himself that his confidence must be in God, not in himself.
Remember the story of the three Hebrew men who were thrown into the fiery furnace of Babylon? God didn’t keep them from those flames; rather, He met them there, and by His strength, they endured (See Daniel 3). This is why Jesus said to us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.” (Matt 11:28-30)!
Thus, our faithfulness is not demonstrated by how easily we are able to bear the burdens that come our way. Rather, it is shown by our recognition that we cannot bear those burdens alone, that we must trust in God to bear them with us.
Remember the oft-quoted Poem, Footprints? The author voices what is so often on all of our hearts:
“Lord…I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”
It is God’s answer that touches each of our hearts:
“My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”
This, friends, is how we get through our trials: Not by focusing on them, but by surrendering them to the God of the universe. It is by trusting in Him to carry us through the worst trials and testings possible that we are freed to focus on the needs of others; and when we do, our own troubles shrink back to a manageable size. But remember, any size is a “manageable size” for the God who carries us through!
There is just one more lesson to be learned from my husband’s encounter with the mango and the cutting knife. Join us on Saturday, for “Preparing the Mango, Part 3!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author — “Aboard God’s Train — A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer”, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries. Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.
(To access the entire “Preparing the Mango” mini-series, please click here.)