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Feeling Overwhelmed?
Part One
When people are confronted with all the temptation, adversity, and great challenges that life here on Earth can bring, we may console them (or tell ourselves) that the Bible says that God will not allow us to experience any more adversity than what we can handle.
But by personal experience, or by taking a closer look at 1Cor. 10: 13, one might have cause to reconsider what God is actually saying about the limitations of our human ability when we find ourselves being tempted or in situations in which we are in fact, clearly in over our heads.
Erroneously concluding that a Christian cannot or should not be overwhelmed, sets the stage for a born-again believer to think that there must be something wrong with himself, evidenced by the fact that he DOES find himself confronted with an irresistible temptation or a challenging circumstance that is beyond the limitations of his human resources to cope or deal with, successfully.
What might be wrong with us that is that we have failed to be prepared for the temptation or challenge BEFORE it presented itself, or that we failed to apply the Biblical means to address the situation in the heat of battle with the forces of evil (1).
Another common error is trying to apply the principles of the Word of God by using our human resources, rather than the John 15: 5 power of God. The best electric tool on the market is useless if it is not plugged in or connected with the required power source.
In 1Cor. 10: 13 NASB we read, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
First note that the experience is “common to man,” a clear indication that Christians are not immune to the same aches, pains, and challenges as everyone else. In fact, because advancing disciples become worthy targets in the realm of spiritual combat, they will suffer in ways that is not known to unbelievers or back-sliding believers (2).
1Cor. 10: 13 NASB is speaking about the temptation to embrace some form of overt immorality. But the principle, I believe, applies to any adversarial situation. In such scenarios, there will always be the “natural” temptation to respond to adversarial situations in ways prompted by our wounded feelings, and or in ways that satisfies the fallen nature within us (3).
What we now refer to as 1Corinthians was a letter from Paul to the born-again believers in ancient Corinth.
Therefore, the “you” in 1Cor. 10: 13 is making reference to believers that have been (or will be) “overtaken” by a temptation (or experience) that is a part of the general human environment here on Earth. The concept that no temptation or adversity has (or will) overtake us, is the result of taking the phrase out of context.
If one stops after only reading the no temptation part, you can see where one might get the idea that God will not allow us to be tempted or to be in overwhelming situations.
BUT when one reads the WHOLE verse (and others), one will find that God is not saying that we can’t or won’t be overwhelmed, only that when we ARE in over our heads, there are the divine means to cope, endure, or to escape, depending on what the plan of God has in store for us at the time.
Many temptations can be avoided by simply not placing oneself in a situation where the inevitable temptation IS going to present itself.
But the devil, who prowls around like a lion seeking someone to devour (4), will still find a way to bring temptations to us, often using third parties to do so. These third parties will often be people expressing human viewpoint.
No wonder Jesus made the prayer request to be delivered from evil, a part of what we commonly refer to as The Lord’s Prayer (5).
We can usually duck when we see the temptation or the potentially adversarial situations coming, but advancing disciples must learn how to manage the unexpected, offensive, words and actions that are the result of the fallen nature in others.
Storing away the means BEFORE the need arises is what Matt. 7: 24-27 is all about. The means to endure or to escape, that God provides, is the principles of His word.
Storing up, but then not applying the means, won’t get you very far (6).
The divine purpose for having sent or allowed testing is NOT for God to see if, or how well, we are advancing towards spiritual maturity. Our omniscient God already knows that.
Such testing is for US to see if, or how well, we are advancing along the road to spiritual maturity. This especially true if and when we find ourselves beginning to better handle the types of people, temptations, and adversity that used to so easily trip us up.
The devil, and his Eph. 6:12 forces of evil know what buttons to press and when to press them for maximum effect.
In some hard-shell cases, it will not be until we have come to the end of our rope with no other options that we are willing to concede the error of our independent ways, and have an ear to godly guidance.
For this reason, God’s answer to our prayer requests for divine intervention in the lives of those whose spiritual welfare we are praying about, is to have all chaos break out in their personal lives, if that is what it is going to take to wake them up.
While God does not prevent us from finding ourselves in circumstances greater that what we can handle, He does provide us with the enabling power and the means to either endure, handle, or to escape (7). These means to endure or to escape are none other than the principles of Scripture that an advancing disciple has learned and has stored away in his or her Matt. 7: 24-27 edified soul structure.
God supplies us with the enabling John 15: 5 power to apply the doctrines we have already (should have) learned when the moment of need presents itself.
There is a difference between God increasing our human strength (that He will not do), and providing us with the John 15: 5 divine power to address any given situation. Born-again believers must #1 be prepared beforehand, and #2 choose to respond accordingly, if we are not to be defeated in the realm of spiritual warfare.
Should we find ourselves in the same negative environment with the same problems over and over again, it is because we have either failed to identify OUR area(s) of weakness, or have failed to overcome them. In the spiritual realm, an area of weakness is an area in our life in which we either are ignorant of our problem, or the divine solutions. It may also be our failure to apply the means that we do have to overcome the hurdle.
As we progress to the next level of spiritual maturity, there will always be the next higher and more difficult hurdle to overcome. As long as we blame someone or something else for our self-induced misery and failures, we will remain on this side of the next hurdle.
God arranges or allows us to find ourselves in situations that ARE beyond our human ability to handle in order to teach or remind us of our need to be prepared beforehand, and or the need to apply the doctrine that we already have.
Having the means to handle, endure, or to escape on hand is the result of our obedience to 2 Peter 3:18, calling for us to continue to, “… grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2Pet. 3: 18 NASB).” Not having of same means is the result of our disobedience to 2Pet. 3: 18.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell-and great was its fall (Matt. 7: 24-27 NASB).”
It’s too late to be thinking about a life jacket when being washed overboard.
One might say, “I am getting by just fine doing things my way without all the adversity and limitations that Biblical discipleship would impose on me and my plans.” If so, you would be well-advised to consider the ominous words of Mark 8: 36.
“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul (or heavenly reward) (Mark 8: 36 NASB parenthesis mine)?”
All born-again believers are Heaven bound and are eternally secure (8), but not all born-again believers will receive the reward and privileges that are reserved for advancing disciples (9).
Advancing disciples do not do what they do to be rewarded. But God has made it clear that He intends to reward in Heaven those who lived for Him while here on Earth. We will continue our study in Part Two…
__________
(1) Matt. 7: 24ff/James 1: 22/ Eph. 6: 12 (2) 2Tim. 3:12/Phil. 1: 29 (3) Romans 7: 18-23 (4) 1Pet. 5: 8 (5) Matt. 6: 13) (6) James 1: 22 (7) John 15: 5/Matt. 7: 24ff (8) John 14: 2/Romans 8: 1(9) 1Cor. 3: 14, 15/Rev. 2: 7, 11, 17, 26 /Rev. 3: 5, 12, 21
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