Thought.
This past Sunday at church I heard someone say “I know that God doesn’t give me trials I can’t handle”. The following Idea is my counter thought to such a statement and it’s many variants.
If God only allowed trials and hardships we could solve or handle on our own there would be little need or desire for us to turn to Jesus Christ, thereby thwarting our own exaltation that can only occur by our coming wholeheartedly and willingly to Jesus Christ. Is it not therefore possible, even plausible, that God would indeed allow some trials, traumas, and troubles to occur of such magnitude as to crush and suffocate our souls, because without them we’d never realize and return to the only source that can make us whole and one.
It is easy to say that God does not allow trials to exceed our capacity when we’re the recipients of only minor ones. But what of those brutally harmed or injured at the hands of another? Or the parents who must helplessly watch their children die? Or the broken hearts and minds left after infidelity, brutality, or immorality? Mortality by design is fraught with trouble; much of it severe.
I posit that in a lifetime, each of us in due course will experience suffering, perhaps more than once, so severe that no earthly remedy will be able to soothe or solve our situation.
But I believe that God allows such severe suffering as to be unbearable and beyond our own capacity and ability to resolve because until we know and understand our absolute need for Jesus Christ, we will never truly seek after Him.
And herein lies the real majesty and miracle of Jesus’ invitation for us to “come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me… and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
The point is that trials ought to be beyond our capacity because then, and perhaps only then, we truly and fully take upon us the name of Jesus Christ and partake completely of His love, His Atonement, His grace.
Mortality is not about meritocracy; we are not here to earn our exaltation, but rather to become someone exalted; new creatures in Christ. For reasons unknown to me, suffering appears to be a catalyst for such transformation to occur.
I do not begin to fully understand why this is the mechanism God has chosen for the education and exaltation of His children, but my inability to comprehend does not make it any less so.
Scripture is replete with accounts of men and women who could only overcome the hardships of mortality by seeking for and finding Jesus Christ. Let us therefore speak less about our own ability to conquer difficulty, and more of Jesus’ power to carry us over the gulf of misery and endless woe.
Quote.
The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts.
- C.S. Lewis (The Abolition of Man, p.13)
Idea.
We are often so busy in the thick of thin things that we fail to focus on what matters most. Today might be a good time to practice putting away distractions for a period of time each day to better focus on the people and places around us.
Thank you, Matthew.
I’m grateful for your thoughtfulness. Your voice is important in an increasingly confused and complex world. I love your brilliant mind.