Sunday Message 21/8/2022 (Session 1)

Will God Really Not Give You More Than You Can Bear?

<1 Co 10:12-13; Lk 22:31-32; 2 Co 1:8-11; 1 Co 1:8-9>

1. God sometimes indeed gives us more than what we can bear.

2. Then how to make sense of <1 Co 10:13>?

· Read <1 Co 10:12-13>.

· “Temptation” in the original language can also mean “test” or “trial”.

1） “Who” can bear and endure?

· Is it a person independently relying on his own strength to overcome temptations?

· Or, it refers to someone who has the help of God?

· In fact, not only in temptations and tests, but during ordinary times, we also need God’s power.

· God may give us “things we cannot bear by our own strength”, but He will never give us “things we cannot bear by relying on Him”.

2） What does “can bear and endure” mean?

· Does it mean that someone with God’s help will never fail, sin, be discouraged or depressed?

· Example of Peter: Read <Lk 22:31-32>.

· Example of Paul: Read <2 Co 1:8-11>.

· “Can bear and endure”: Does not mean will never fail or be discouraged, but that even if our faith is temporarily shaken, or we lose heart and courage, or we fall and fail, God will not allow us to fall till we cannot get up, sin till we cannot repent, or be tried till we give up our faith.

· Read <1 Co 1:8-9>.

3. When faced with things we cannot bear, how should we respond?

1） Submit to God’s sovereign guidance.

· The example of the Israelites tells us that blessings and good things may not save. “Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness” <1 Co 10:5>.

· Sometimes, what is scarier than “trials that are hard to bear” is “comforts that cause our spirit to slumber”, such that we have no awareness of crisis. 

· Do not be like the Israelites who tested the Lord and grumbled against Him.

2） Rely on the God whom you believe in.

· <2 Co 1:9>: God let man go through what he cannot bear, so that man will “not rely on himself but on God, who raises the dead”.

· Paul also testified and praised God for really delivering them from deadly peril and trusted that God would deliver them again <2 Co 1:10>.

· Instead of saying “God will never give you what you cannot bear”, may be better to say “God will give you sufficient grace even when you face what you cannot bear”.

3） Do not find excuses, do not push the blame.

4） Do not use wrong ways to escape temptations or trials.

· Only the way out provided by God is right, not the other ways we find on our own.

· Example of Daniel’s 3 friends <Dan 3>.

· Sometimes, the way out God provided for us is not “exempted from” but “go through” and “bear with” the trials by relying on Him.

· Change our prayers: Instead of asking God to let us not encounter trials at all, pray that we can “endure” the trials if they come.

5）Join up with the church and brethren to receive strength.

· In his trials, Paul emphasized, “as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many” <2 Co 1:11>.