MisUsed!!
I was watching the news today and a popular morning host is sadly going
through her second battle with a life threatening illness. She stood in
front of the camera and said, "It's all okay, I know that God would not
give me more than I can handle." Now, if you are like me, you have
said this before, you have heard it said before and most of us believe
this is true!! Why is it so comforting to believe this? If you serve a
God that chooses to smite you at will does that show he truly loves
you?? In the counseling business we call that an abusive partner and
suggest you flee the situation. Now, am I suggesting that you flee your
true belief in God, NO!! I am suggesting that we look at the scripture
all this nonsense is based on; see if it is truly God having a bad day
and dumping illness on us because he loves us or is this bad doctrine.
An urban myth that has been passed down from church pulpit to church
pulpit.
Before I give my take on all this I do want to make a disclaimer! 1) He is God and I am not and if he chooses to truly smite me than so be it!! 2) I do believe that at any given time God can step into the situation and make a miracle. I do not understand why sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't, but I rely on point number 1 for this question.
However, I believe that we would rather blame a God that we love than take responsibility for the actions that caused our situation. Sometimes it's our fault, sometimes it's another persons fault, sometimes it just has no explanation.
There is only one time in scripture that God is seen as a Greek God sitting on his thrown arguing with the devil about making someone's life miserable and that is Job. There are other times when God says if you do this these things will happen to you. Jesus if you become the Christ you will suffer and die, Peter if you follow me people will hate you, Paul I am real, but you will suffer for following me. Yet in each of these situations free will gave these men the ability to choose the road less traveled. We see it in negative situations too. When Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed they were told not to look back and the woman did and she was turned to a pillar of salt.(free will)
Isn't it interesting that in 3 years of walking around , praying for and healing people and teaching his disciples to pray, Jesus never once said pray like this, " Our Father who are in heaven change your mind and don't let this man be lame, change your mind and calm this storm, change your mind and take away this blindness??" No, as my pastor was teaching last week, he showed them that he had authority over the wills of the world and the enemy. He showed them that they had the authority to speak to these issues and miracles would happen. Now would he have taught them to do that if it was in direction contradiction to God's Will??? I think it would of been like this..........."sorry blind man God hasn't given you more than you can handle so here's a cane use it so you won't falll down. Have a nice day God bless you!!"
The scripture that this doctrine comes from is 1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." NIV
So let's be clear here the scriptures are talking about temptations that are common to man. We live in a fallen world and there are temptations all around us that lead to bigger problems. However, God is always faithful to provide a way out if WE CHOOSE to take it. This is not talking about having cancer or being abused. This is about ordinary life situations that are sometimes unbearable, but usually under our control. We can freak out or we can look for the window.
I heard this scripture used one time at a Christian women's retreat. The very famous singer shared her childhood story and explained how she made it through all of this abuse because of 1 Corinthians 10:13. She just told 2,000 women ,which if statistics are right and I think they are low, 1 out of 3 are abused, that it was okay that she was hurt because God chose it to tempt her!! What have we done to our generation? Sometimes I think it would be better that a millstone were wrapped around our neck!! Now sadly this singer truly believes this and this is how she copes. The truth is some horrible human being used his free will to hurt this child of God and God did give her a way out, he did give her a window, he did help her overcome, but he DID NOT CHOOSE THIS FOR HER!! He has not chosen this for the morning host! And, he has not chosen any of these afflictions for you!! He does however stand beside you and he will give you peace despite your circumstances. Even if the answer isn't healing he will be with you. He is concerned for you and does work all things to good for those who serve him according to his will.
My friend died of breast cancer last year. She left a 24 year old son, a 10 year old daughter and a husband that had been her boyfriend since she was 12 years old. She was one of the most committed Christians I have ever known. Over her life she personal touched the lives of God's children. More than 500 of them were touched by her guidance. At the end of her life God did not give her cancer, he did not take a child's mother, a husbands wife. I believe he probably wept along with the rest of us. But, he did give her the strength to have peace. He did welcome her into his arms.
Once again, He is God and I am not!!
What if we were free to believe that it's okay to not know the answers to everything? What if we believed that things were not acceptable as they currently stand and we have the power to change them? What if we believed that a God loved us so much that HE sent HIS Son to show us the way and if we ever learned to walk in that authority we would be truly free?
If you read the very first blog I ever posted than this last line will make since to you.
WHY NOT?
Before I give my take on all this I do want to make a disclaimer! 1) He is God and I am not and if he chooses to truly smite me than so be it!! 2) I do believe that at any given time God can step into the situation and make a miracle. I do not understand why sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't, but I rely on point number 1 for this question.
However, I believe that we would rather blame a God that we love than take responsibility for the actions that caused our situation. Sometimes it's our fault, sometimes it's another persons fault, sometimes it just has no explanation.
There is only one time in scripture that God is seen as a Greek God sitting on his thrown arguing with the devil about making someone's life miserable and that is Job. There are other times when God says if you do this these things will happen to you. Jesus if you become the Christ you will suffer and die, Peter if you follow me people will hate you, Paul I am real, but you will suffer for following me. Yet in each of these situations free will gave these men the ability to choose the road less traveled. We see it in negative situations too. When Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed they were told not to look back and the woman did and she was turned to a pillar of salt.(free will)
Isn't it interesting that in 3 years of walking around , praying for and healing people and teaching his disciples to pray, Jesus never once said pray like this, " Our Father who are in heaven change your mind and don't let this man be lame, change your mind and calm this storm, change your mind and take away this blindness??" No, as my pastor was teaching last week, he showed them that he had authority over the wills of the world and the enemy. He showed them that they had the authority to speak to these issues and miracles would happen. Now would he have taught them to do that if it was in direction contradiction to God's Will??? I think it would of been like this..........."sorry blind man God hasn't given you more than you can handle so here's a cane use it so you won't falll down. Have a nice day God bless you!!"
The scripture that this doctrine comes from is 1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." NIV
So let's be clear here the scriptures are talking about temptations that are common to man. We live in a fallen world and there are temptations all around us that lead to bigger problems. However, God is always faithful to provide a way out if WE CHOOSE to take it. This is not talking about having cancer or being abused. This is about ordinary life situations that are sometimes unbearable, but usually under our control. We can freak out or we can look for the window.
I heard this scripture used one time at a Christian women's retreat. The very famous singer shared her childhood story and explained how she made it through all of this abuse because of 1 Corinthians 10:13. She just told 2,000 women ,which if statistics are right and I think they are low, 1 out of 3 are abused, that it was okay that she was hurt because God chose it to tempt her!! What have we done to our generation? Sometimes I think it would be better that a millstone were wrapped around our neck!! Now sadly this singer truly believes this and this is how she copes. The truth is some horrible human being used his free will to hurt this child of God and God did give her a way out, he did give her a window, he did help her overcome, but he DID NOT CHOOSE THIS FOR HER!! He has not chosen this for the morning host! And, he has not chosen any of these afflictions for you!! He does however stand beside you and he will give you peace despite your circumstances. Even if the answer isn't healing he will be with you. He is concerned for you and does work all things to good for those who serve him according to his will.
My friend died of breast cancer last year. She left a 24 year old son, a 10 year old daughter and a husband that had been her boyfriend since she was 12 years old. She was one of the most committed Christians I have ever known. Over her life she personal touched the lives of God's children. More than 500 of them were touched by her guidance. At the end of her life God did not give her cancer, he did not take a child's mother, a husbands wife. I believe he probably wept along with the rest of us. But, he did give her the strength to have peace. He did welcome her into his arms.
Once again, He is God and I am not!!
What if we were free to believe that it's okay to not know the answers to everything? What if we believed that things were not acceptable as they currently stand and we have the power to change them? What if we believed that a God loved us so much that HE sent HIS Son to show us the way and if we ever learned to walk in that authority we would be truly free?
If you read the very first blog I ever posted than this last line will make since to you.
WHY NOT?
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