God will show you how to escape from your temptations. Wow! What an incredible insight by Paul. Not only will He never give us more than we can bear, He will show us the way out of those situations and conditions in life that we use to separate ourselves from the love of God.
How many times throughout history has this part of the “tests” in our lives been forgotten about? People make statements about God testing them, or I have even heard people say something along the lines of “I must have done something wrong, so God is punishing me.” People come to assume that God is wrathful in his judgment and He wants us to pay dearly when we sin. Moreover, these “tests” are forms of punishment of the judgment past. Much like ancient Greek heroes had to perform tasks to appease an angry god, or how Job’s friends and neighbors assumed that he had angered God in some way.
However the truth of the matter is God, gives us tasks to do each and every day. These tasks may seem impossible at first, however as Paul states, He does not give us any more than we can possibly handle at one time. God knows us inside and out. He knows what is best for us and how close He can push us even beyond where we thought possible.
However, we being human, more often than not, tend to doubt our own abilities and strengths. We allow our fears of what could happen to get in the way of how God can make it happen for us.
Often times, people have a hard time stepping out on faith during times of trial or a sense of the unknown. People tend to turn inward, “circle the wagons, raise the drawbridge” so to speak. We retreat to what is comfortable and safe for us.
For example, stewardship and tithing often meet with resistance and fear. What do I mean by tithing? That is giving at base, 10% of what you earn as an offering to God. For many people this is a scary concept. The first words that enter into some people’s mind is, “I can’t possibly make that”, or “I’m on a fixed income” or countless other reasons before they actually look at trying to do it.
You see there is an innate fear that we won’t be able to make it on the remainder. This is the trial God puts before us, the temptation is to rationalize and say well, “Ten percent is a nice idea, however, I need to save
up for a rainy day, because I never know when I’ll need it.”
This is the same thing the Israelites did in the Wilderness, remember what it was they were afraid they would be with out? Let me read Exodus 16:15-21
When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. This is what the LORD has commanded: `Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’" The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little.
And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed. Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning." However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. (Exodus 16:15-21 NIV)
The Israelites feared that there would not be any tomorrow, so they tried to horde what God had given them in the first place. This is the same thing a person who makes excuses as to why they cannot give a tithe to God is doing. The money is not actually theirs in the first place, and secondly just like the Israelites they have let fear get in the way of believing that God will take care of them in any situation.
However, in both cases God provides a means for which he keeps us from falling victim to temptation. He provided the Israelites the instructions as well as proof that He would be there for them. He had given them water when they were thirsty, protected them from the Pharaoh’s Army, and led them across the Wilderness of Sin.
If a person allows God to take charge of their lives, and take that step of faith. Often times a person can be rewarded far beyond anything they could have hoped for or dreamed possible.
Even in mission and ministry, God puts tasks before us that are meant to strengthen our resolve and character. He puts people in ministry, not necessarily because they are the most dynamic or qualified. He puts people in ministry who best will bring His kingdom to His people.
Throughout the scriptures there are many such people whom God called, some even succumbed to their fears however God was able to bolster their faiths and allow them to step up and trust to know what was best for them. For example, look at Moses. Moses argued that he was not qualified to get the Israelites out of Egypt. He had some strikes against him.
1. He was eighty years old, and he wasn’t really looking for a third career, we can assume he was quite comfortable running the family sheep business.
2. He was wanted for murder in Egypt, remember he murdered an overseer. He had seen an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. Moses killed him and then hid his body in the sand.
3. Lastly, compared to pharaoh, he was slow in speech and tongue, and he worried about facing someone as quick-witted as pharaoh.
Finally after running out of excuses, mainly because God countered every one of them, he submitted to God’s will. He stepped out on faith and the rest is history.
During the Lenten Bible Study on Thursday, we briefly talked about mission work. During the discussion, one of the participants brought up the fact that if God called them to the mission field they hoped it would not be some place far away like Africa or China (jokingly saying they did not like rice). However sometimes this happens too.
There was a lady named Danni Stampley from Luann’s home church who had been trained as a Baptist missionary. She felt the call to be a missionary the very night she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior; she was a teenager at the time. After high school and college, she spent several years in a Baptist Seminary, training to be a missionary and she was certain of the fact that God wanted her to go to Africa. However, while at seminary, she met a young man and they fell in love and became engaged. He gave her a lovely engagement ring to signify their relationship, as well as his intent. However, this engagement was to be her greatest temptation. You see, she had known for years that she was to go to Africa; God had called her to go specifically to Africa. But, her fiancée was being called to another country. For a time, she prayed about it and asked God for guidance. She loved this man, she wanted to spend her life with him, raise a family, and most of all, serve God with him. She kept thinking that certainly, God would understand and surely, she could serve Him in another country just as well as she could in Africa. Her fiancée prayed about it as well because he in turn, wanted to be with her for the rest of his life. But, in their hearts, they knew what God had told them to do. God had been very specific in his calling for her and for her fiancée, and they could not turn away from what God wanted them to do. So, at the airport, right before her plane left for Africa, she slipped that engagement ring off her finger and handed it back to him. She stepped on to that plane, and she never saw him again.
Miss Danni Stamply never did marry; she spent over thirty years as a missionary in Africa. Danni submitted her life to serving God. She put her whole faith and trust in Him. She let God lead her life in what He thought was best for her. Looking back on it, Danny knows that she did the right thing by going to Africa because God has blessed her life so richly. She told Luann that she has been blessed more than she could have ever imagined. This was because she put her own desires and fears aside and did the Lord’s will for her life. She stated that if she had not gotten on that plane, she would have missed out on so many wonderful, life-changing events and all those people, whom she helped bring to Christ, might have never been found. God was right!
You see we as human beings often live in the here and now. We basically can only see two dimensions, the past and the present. So trusting that God will lead us in doing the right thing is not an easy task. When our trials and struggles seem to be taking too long to be resolved, we are apt to try to solve them in our own error-filled ways, which will more often than not create new problems we did not anticipate in the first place.
However, since God is omnipotent, in other words, He knows more than we do, and He knows what is best for us, He is better equipped to give us the resources and knowledge to solve our problems. He will guide you in what is the best way to solve your problems. He will never fail you and he will reward you for your faithfulness. Things may not always turn out the way you had planned, but when we follow God, things will always turn out the way HE had planned. We have a way out of temptations, no matter what those temptations may be, even those that weaken us to the breaking point. When we walk through temptations and come through them, we do that not because of who we are…..but because of who HE is.
With that said let me end with these words from Ephesians 6:7-18
Work willingly for the sake of the Lord and not for the sake of human beings. Never forget that everyone, whether a slave or a free man, will be rewarded by the Lord for whatever work he has done well. And those of you who are employers, treat your slaves in the same spirit; do without threats, and never forget that they and you have the same Master in heaven and there is no favoritism with him.
Finally, grow strong in the Lord, with the strength of his power. Put on the full armor of God so as to be able to resist the devil’s tactics. For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the principalities and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this world, the spirits of evil in the heavens. That is why you must take up all God’s armor, or you will not be able to put up any resistance on the evil day, or stand your ground even though you exert yourselves to the full.
So stand your ground, with truth a belt round your waist, and uprightness a breastplate, wearing for shoes on your feet the eagerness to spread the gospel of peace and always carrying the shield of faith so that you can use it to quench the burning arrows of the Evil One. And then you must take salvation as your helmet and the sword of the Spirit, that is, the word of God. In all your prayer and entreaty keep praying in the Spirit on every possible occasion. Never get tired of staying awake to pray for all God’s holy people. Amen (Ephesians 6:7-18 NJB)
