Bible Studies

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by Doug Laird

10/17/25
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The one thing we don’t appreciate when we find ourselves in overwhelming situations or circumstances in which we are clearly in over our heads, is to have salt rubbed into our open wounds by people telling us that God will not give us more than what we can handle.

Such well-intended, but misguided, counsel usually comes from people whose faith have never really been put to the test.

Perhaps they have not had to deal with such things as a difficult marriage, rebellious children, financial hardship, unexpected death, discrimination, social or legal injustice, post-traumatic stress, life-threatening or life-changing health issues, or sexual, physical, or mental abuse.

Satan was proven wrong in the case of Job, contending that if God were to allow enough adversity to come upon Job, that he (Job), “…would certainly curse You (God) to Your face (Job 1: 11 NASB2020 parenthesis mine).”

Satan lost that round, but there are many Christians who would not pass the test, as did Job. Job suffered the loss of ten adult children, his wealth, and his health, even though he was a man who was, “…blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil (Job 1:1 NASB2020)."

In many cases, casualties in the realm of spiritual combat become angry with God for something that He either sent, allowed to take place, or would not fix.

In some cases, “Christians” have walked away from God and or the things of God, without even coming close to experiencing the amount or level of the suffering that Job experienced, but simply because they did not get something that they wanted in their secular life.

Fortunately, they did not lose their salvation (1), but do forfeit the type of intimacy in their relationship with God that only an advancing disciple will ever experience, here on Earth.

If we do not become better (more spiritually mature) as a result of the adversity we face, we WILL become bitter. Such bitterness will lead some to go as far as questioning the significance, or even the very existence, of God.

In this, the devil is well-pleased.

Satan always begins his attack with his flaming arrows (2) on a would-be advancing disciple by pointing to something (3) that his intended target doesn’t have, but really wants to have, thinking it would improve his or her situation or circumstances.

Satan adds more fuel to this fire by pointing to the prosperity of the wicked (4). These people not only have the things that the intended target desires, but seem to go about unscathed, in spite of their ungodly lifestyles.

Should this strategy fail to work, Satan then turns his “offer of prosperity” (5) into an attack mode (6), hitting the advancing disciple where it will cause the most pain and suffering.

Most mature believers that I have come to know are among the ones who have been around the block of great adversity more than once.

Be it by way of prosperity or adversity, Satan’s objective is the same, that being to stop the forward progress and development of a born-again believer’s post salvation spiritual life. When he succeeds, God is denied the glory that He would have otherwise received.

Our first response to a Satanic attack (or adversity that is common to everyone else), is usually to send a distress signal (prayer) to Heaven, seeking immediate divine intervention.

Having benefited by God answering favorably to my own prayer requests, and to the prayer requests made by others in my behalf, I would be the last one to ever dispute the power of prayer.

At the same time, I have learned that the answers we receive are not always what we had sought through our prayer requests. In fact, sometimes His response proved to be just the opposite.

Every prayer receives an immediate answer of yes, no, or not right now, with the not right now ones being the more difficult to understand.

If you, as a born-again believer, want a life free from Satanic attack, all you have to do is to stop moving forward in the individual plan that God has in mind for you.

The devil is wise enough to quit when he is ahead of the game, having removed a soldier from the battlefield of spiritual combat. Satan may even reward you for your spiritual adultery (7), and use your negative exampe, but positive prosperity, to encourage others to do the same.

Know however, that such unfaithfulness to God, to the plan of God, or to things of God, has its consequences (8). The devil never mentions the consequences, only his way to prosper and the easiest way out of adversity.

As Peter put it, since we are going to suffer either way, better to suffer for executing the plan of God than it is to suffer for not doing so (9).

Much to his later grief, Peter, who sincerely believed that he would willingly “die” for the Lord (10), had to learn from experience, that when the moment of truth (testing) presented itself (11), his true level of commitment (at that time) would be revealed, when he denied that he even knew the Lord.

[Note that later on, Peter would in fact be crucified. A 2nd Century non-Biblical source (Acts of Peter) would claim that Peter was crucified upside down.]

It is our arrogance and the absence of testing that influences us to think more highly of ourselves than what we ought (12). It is our failures that keeps us humble.

It is easy to go about praising the Lord as we bask in the sunlight of His blessings. The real testing of our faith comes into the picture when something or someone that is dear to us is taken away.

Granted, by isolating one phrase found in 1Cor. 10: 13, the Bible does appear to be telling us that, “He (God) will not allow you to be tempted (or tested) beyond what you are able (to endure) 1Cor. 10: 13 NASB2020 parentheses mine. This is the common and popular interpretation of the passage.

The original transcripts did not contain chapter and paragraph breaks, or punctuation marks. They were added by later translators as reference points and to provide (in most cases) a clearer interpretation.

If this isolated phrase were followed by a period (.), and not a comma (,) as it is, then a good argument could be made in favor of this commonly accepted interpretation.

However, it is what follows the comma (,) that clarifies what the Bible is actually telling us.

It’s not that God will not allow us to be tempted (or tested) beyond what we are able to endure, but that WITH SUCH EXPERIENCES (when we ARE in over our heads), that He will provide for us the means of either escape or endurance.

There would be no need for God to have provided these means of escape or endurance if such scenarios were not to take place, as some interpret the passage to say.

These means, available to ALL born-again believers, consist of the enabling John 15: 5 power, and the application (13) of the appropriate doctrine that should already be in the soul structure (14) of an advancing disciple.

There is a major difference between a temptation and a test.

A temptation (to sin) comes from the devil, one of his members of his Eph. 6: 12 forces of evil, people with human viewpoint who have been deceived, and or our own fallen nature that desires such things.

The objective of temptations is to entice us to entertain sin or evil. It only takes just a little leaven (sin, evil, false doctrine) to impact the whole loaf (15) .

On the other hand, a test of our faith, in the midst of adversity, comes from God. The purpose of such tests is for US to see what God already knows. That being where we really stand, not with our salvation (16), but in our walk with the Lord.

In the middle of a crisis is NOT the time to be looking for the appropriate doctrine.

One of the reasons that God allows us to get in over our heads is to bring to our attention our 2Pet, 3: 18 failure to have been prepared (17), or our failure to apply the means for endurance or escape that we already do have circulating in our edified soul structure.

Having a doctor prescribe the right medication will do us no good if it is left on the shelf and not taken as directed. Likewise, having the appropriate doctrine, but not applying it, will not resolve a spiritual issue.

Furthermore, If we do not learn the lesson by the adversity God has sent or as allowed to take place, we are destined not only to experience the same type of hardship over and over again, but with increasing frequency and intensity.

N-o-t-h-i-n-g, good or bad, ever has, is now, or ever will take place anywhere without either being sent or allowed to take place by God, but always with a divine purpose in mind.

Seeing the hand of God in all the prosperity that comes our way is easy, but perceiving the hand of God behind ALL the adversity He sends or allows to take place is a major hurdle to overcome along the road to spiritual maturity.

From time to time, everyone WILL find themselves in situations and circumstances in which we are in over our heads, with more temptation, testing, and adversity than we can handle with the limitations of our human resources and abilities.

The difference is that an advancing disciple will have the divine means to either escape or to endure, according to God’s will, timing, and purpose, as God works out all things (18) for His glory, and for the spiritual growth of the believer.

Very few things glorify God or frustrates the devil more, than after the devil or those who do is bidding have thrown their best punch, only to see the advancing disciple get back up and move forward in the plan of God.

(1) Rom. 8: 1 (2) Eph. 6: 16 (3) Gen. 3: 6 (4) Psalms 73: 3 -12 (5) Luke 4: 6 (6) 1Pet. 5: 8 (7) Rev. 2: 4 (8) Mark 8: 36/1Cor. 3: 15/Jonah 1 (9) 1Pet. 3: 17 (10) Luke 22: 33 (11) Luke 22: 57 (12) Rom. 12: 3 (13) James 1: 22 (14) Matt. 7: 24-27 (15) Gal. 5: 9 (16) Rom. 8: 1 (17) Matt. 7: 24-27 (18) Rom. 8: 28

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