I had to smile when I saw April's verse of the month for my church. Many Christians have a "life verse." A verse or passage in the Bible that is very special to them. I Corinthians 10:13 is that verse for me. I believe I "found" it somewhere between my junior or senior year of high school, because I remember putting it on all of my book covers my senior year. As the years have gone by, this verse has become soooooo precious to me!!!! So, in honor of Heritage Church's April memory verse, please allow me to share more comfort from God's Word.
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (KJV)
In its context, this verse really is talking about things that tempt us to sin. It is powerful to think of this verse in light of that, but great comfort comes from the realization that this verse can also be applied to trials that come into our life.
Wise Solomon tells us "there is nothing new under the sun." This verse repeats this by saying "no [trial] has taken us but such as is common to man." When I really think about my trial in light of world history, it somehow really minimizes it to know that countless others have gone through it before me! This tends to put me back into a proper perspective of who "I" really am!
"But God is faithful" This phrase is the foundation for the whole verse. Without God's faithfulness, we would have nothing!!! This has also been a very hard phrase for me to really learn. It sure doesn't seem that God is faithful when your life falls apart or things are not at all going the way you really wanted them to. God seems mean and uncaring at those times. HE IS NOT!! The verse continues, "who will not suffer you to be [tried] above that ye are able." We see God's compassion!!!!!! God will not allow me to have one bit more of a trial than what I am able to handle! What a comfort!!
All trials cause us to grow in our character. The final phrase of this verse is what I have quoted the most and has brought me comfort beyond words through the years. Even now, I am choking back the tears as I write them! "But will WITH the [trial] also make a WAY OF ESCAPE that you may be able to bear it." God does not promise to take away my trial. He promises I will be able to bear it!!!!
I have countless examples of this, but probably the most vivid one for me was right after my divorce. I found myself single with four very small kiddos, the youngest just a few weeks old. I had been working a few hours a week at a nursing home before the baby was born, but was on extended leave. As I began combing job sites for possible jobs, my heart broke over the thoughts of having to put my children in day care. My passion is being a stay at home mom, and I sobbed many hours over not being able to do this. I "happened" upon a job posting from the very nursing home that I was still technically employed at. They had a full time position; Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 7PM-7AM. Right about this same time, a young woman came to live with me. She would, in exchange for discounted rent, watch my kiddos on the nights I worked. She was far more of a blessing to me than I can ever say!! This schedule was NOT easy. But it allowed me to provide for my family, still be at home with my children ALL week, and only miss putting them to bed at night on the weekends!!! Yes, it was physically exhausting. I averaged 8 hours of sleep per weekend for almost two years.
The trial was great. However, He did not ask me to do what seemed unthinkable. Instead, God gave me a way that was bearable for me!!! What makes this story even more amazing is when I found out I wasn't even supposed to have that position. It should have never have been posted on that job site. An internal employee had applied for it, but had been over-looked. The nursing home had to create a job for me, since they had already officially offered me the position when the mistake was discovered!!!
I praise my heavenly Father for caring enough about my character to NOT take my hard times away, but to give me a "way of escape" so that I can handle it enough to grow!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment