The First Word of Encouragement
First, He tells us that there is no trial that we may go through but such as is “common to man.” There are times when we feel that no one can possibly understand what we are going through. We feel that we may not be able to make it, because we’re having to endure what no one else has had to endure. God is saying, in essence, “I know that what you are going through is very hard. I know it may seem unbearable. But you need to realize that others have gone though very similar trials. I enabled them to get through it. I will get you through it too!”
The Second Word of Encouragement
Secondly, God assures us in this verse that He will not allow us to be tested “above what we are able.”
How often we feel that we have reached the end of our rope-when we really haven’t. How often we feel that we can endure no more-when we really can. You see, God is the One Who knows us better that anyone else possibly could. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows how much we can bear. He knows exactly which “straw would break the camel’s back.” And He promises that He will never allow that much testing to come our way.
The Third Word of Encouragement
Finally He promises that He “will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
There are those times of trial when there seems to be absolutely no way out. It’s as if we had been pushed into a room with no windows and no doors. We can see no hope whatsoever of getting out. In those times, He says, “I will make a way to escape.” At just the right time, in just the right way, He will open the door.
It is not easy to remember how limited our vision is when we are staring horrible circumstances in the face. It is not easy to remember that we have a Father who is bigger than any horrible circumstance could ever be. It is during these times when we must force our gaze away from the circumstances and onto God. As Peter Lord has said so well, “Most of us tend to gaze at our circumstances and glance at God now and then. We need to reverse that. We need to gaze upon God and glance at our circumstances.”
It is during times like these when we must cling to His promises knowing that however bleak the circumstances might be, He will certainly see us through!
Steve Hall (edited for “GOOD NEWS”)
