Earlier today I was thinking about a phrase which we commonly throw around, "God won't give us any more than we can bear." As I was confirming the scripture reference for a verse I wanted to use in this blog, my eye fell upon a few articles about this topic. As I read them my heart sank.

The authors of these articles were quoting the very verse I was going to use; 1 Corinthians 10:13 which says:

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)

The authors of the articles I was reading stressed that this passage was talking specifically about "temptations" and therefore to say that God would not give us more than we could bear was wrong. He would give us more than what we could bear but we could only bear it through Him. I could not disagree with that argument for I know this to be true.

I decided to change the direction of this blog and even started a new one but then I stopped. I couldn't shake the feeling that I needed to take a closer look at this before proceeding.

I took a look at various Bible translations which all used the word "temptation". Then something caught my eye. What was this? The Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament? Mounce? Now where had I heard that name? Then I remembered. William Mounce is a well-known New Testament Greek scholar. My husband has a lot of his books.

I looked up 1 Corinthians 10:13 in the Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament and this is what it says:

No trial has overtaken you that is not distinctively human; and God is faithful; he will not let you be tested beyond what you can bear, but with the trial will also provide the way through, so that you will be able to endure it.

Interesting...

I couldn't help but wonder why this particular translation used the word trial here instead of temptation so I decided to look up the word Paul used. The word is: peirasmos(Strong's 3986). Yes, it does mean "temptation" but it means more than that. It also means trial, probation, testing, being tried, calamity and affliction. In other words it means so much more than what we ordinarily think of when we use the word temptation.

To me this is exciting for God will not only enable us to overcome temptation; He gives us the power to overcome every trial, test, calamity and affliction! We are going to have things happen in our lives which under normal circumstances would be too hard for us to endure. However, because of Christ we can bear all things that God permits us to to endure.

Earlier today, I was blessed by this song. I pray that it will bless you as well.



Blessings!

K

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