Val'ri's Bible Thoughts

2006-03-17T08:11:00.000-08:00

"Well, you know that God won't put on you more than you can bear!"

I have heard this statement many times as a response when a fellow Christian is going through a difficult time. This especially seems to be trundled out as "godly consolation" when someone is faced with some of the most stress-producing, life-shaking circumstances that any human being may have to deal with in life. Marital struggles? Life and limb threatening illness? Death of a child?

"Well, you know that God...."

Baloney!

And I say this because this particular platitude has three major flaws. Firstly, it isn't Scripture. Secondly, it misrepresents the character of God. Thirdly, there is both scriptural and present-day evidence that a Christian can and sometimes does have more on them than they can bear.

Let's deal with the first flaw. About five or so years ago when I heard someone say this as words of comfort...well, it wasn't the first time I heard it, but it was certainly the first time that I was struck with the fact that I could think of no particular Bible verse which backed this up. This made me uncomfortable because, by my silence, I was in essence stating my agreement. Being the curious, as well as accuracy driven person that I am, I went home, pulled out Bible and concordance and went hunting for it. After all, if so many preachers and teachers and other obviously devoted Christians say this, it must be there.

It turns out that this is a shorthanded mis-quote from I Cor. 10:13, which reads in the NIV as follows:

"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."

Read this carefully. Then compare what it is saying to what our "quote" is saying. You'll find some key differences. And if you back up in the chapter far enough, you'll find the context. This verse and the passage it comes from is about temptations, not circumstances. Paul is giving believers warning against overconfidence in one's ability to resist such temptations as the Israelite's (Paul's prime historical example here) dealt with: idolatry, sexual immorality, rebellion and grumbling against the Lord. But Paul also reassures us that, while temptations can be powerful, God is faithful in supporting us through them.

The second objection to our misquote is that it gives the impression that difficult circumstances are put upon us by God, and what's more, he does so to toughen us up. That whatever trials we are experiencing are us "going through the fire" and "going through the valley" and when God is finished putting us through this particular hell, it will result in something good for us and we will be glad it happened because we will be a stronger Christian. (This particular viewpoint is usually backed up by that other favorite verse: "...that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,..." which is at least quoted correctly and scripturally truthful, but is equally not an indication that God himself piles miseries upon us.) Even Job's troubles were not put upon him by God.

Which bring us to our final flaw: Believers or no, sometimes people are in situations where the burden of it is too much for them. To imply otherwise is to inadvertently add spiritual guilt to the mix, as if we are not working with God's program or something. There are times when we are pushed beyond our physical, spiritual and/or emotional limits to a place where we give up and simply mourn, wail, fall into depression, grasp at anything we think might at least numb the pain. There is a place where rage and despair seem to have no productive outlet, where we feel we are beating the air.

When children die. "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." (Jer.31:15 - NIV)

When disaster wipes you out. "Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was." (Job 2:13 - NIV)

When persecution hammers you. "...for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself." (II Cor. 1:8 - NRSV)

When betrayal and abandonment and death are staring you in the face. "Grief and anguish came over him, and he said to them, 'My heart is so filled with sadness that I could die!'" (Matt. 26:37-38 - CJB)

When you sit in ashes and don't speak for seven days, when you cry and refuse to be comforted, when you literally feel like you are going to die because your pain and anguish are so deep, then you have come to a place that is beyond what you can bear. I have been in that place for the past several months and being a Christian does not wipe away the reality of dealing with heartbreak and loss and betrayal and despair, or the physical and emotional breakdown that results when all your energy is sucked into just trying to deal with it.

And for months I have been clinging to that Rock which is the steady and faithful relationship forged between me and my God. There was, quite literally, nothing and no one else to cling to that was going to help.

And what of Christians who have not troubled to build a true relationship with God? What of unbelievers who don't even know God?! When they have come to the end of their rope, reached the end of their own strength, how do they survive? Some of them don't.

God did not put these circumstances on me, human beings who decided not to stand firm against temptation did. So I do not place the blame on God. But I do cling to him in heartfelt gratitude because he is my Rock, and through his power and presence I was "hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned;...

...struck down, but not destroyed."

The next time a believer confides in you of a problem in their life which is leaving them feeling helpless, out of control, and far from God...offer prayers of sympathy, not pious platitudes. If you feel you can do something practical to help, offer it. If not, don't...because they just might ask for what you offered.

Most of all, acknowledge that sometimes life just stinks and their emotions are a real part of the process in dealing with what a sinful world throws at you. What is our Rock is that no matter how rough the ride, God never leaves us. Never.

2006-03-09T21:14:00.000-08:00

The powerful imagery of four horsemen riding out to wreck havoc on the earth and usher in the apocalypse is so compelling that it has come, in a way, to stand for the apocalypse itself. Indeed they are often taken out of their scriptural context, that of the scroll being unsealed by the Lamb.

Ever since Israel became a nation, scriptural prophecies regarding the last days have been unfolding at an ever increasing pace. To the frustration of we who are watching and waiting for His coming, some of these events aren't happening where we can see them. Neither BBC nor CNN gives us a heads up on what is happening in the spiritual plane of existence.

What if, while we are sitting around counting earthquake frequency and magnitudes, the seals are already being opened?

The book of Revelation possesses few times cues (i.e. indications of how long events take to take place and the length of time between events). There is no reason, therefore, to presume that this book somehow comprises Daniel's 70th week from the opening of the first seal to the pouring out of the final bowl. Neither are the events of Revelation declared by Scripture to be laid out in chronological order. The destruction of Babylon is in Ch. 16, for instance. The explanation of who she is and how she fell are in Ch. 17 and 18.

When I stopped applying an artificial time construct to Revelation and applied what time cues I had from other apocalyptic scripture to it, I got a different picture. The most telling time cues involve Jesus' teachings on the signs of the end of the age in Matthew. Again, there is a lot of backing up and elaborating rather than a straight timeline from end to end, but within each section he does supply us with an order whereby events happen.

Verses 15-31 are one narrative. It begins with an event Daniel mentioned..."when you see the abomination that causes desolation standing in the holy place"and tells us this event is the immediate precursor of a time of Great Distress (vs. 21). Daniel also tells us this abomination happens at the halfway point of the antiChrist's rule. Verse 29 says "immediately after the distress of those days" and provides the next events in order, 1) the sun darkened and other signs in the sky, 2) the sign of the Son of Man appears in the sky, 3) the Son of Man comes on the clouds of the sky, 4) the elect gathered from the four winds. Dan. 7 also appears to place a time of intense persecution prior to "one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven."

Conclusion: the abomination happens 3-1/2 years after the covenant in confirmed, this event ushers in the time of Great Distress, after which the Son of Man comes on clouds of glory. (If the tribulation comes after the ingathering, who would the pagans tribulate? They've got the earth to themselves. Party on! Right? Common sense says if you've got tribulators then you've got tribulatees.)

When I see in Rev. 6 a mention of martyrs under the altar (5th seal), the signs in the sky mentioned by Jesus in Matthew (6th seal), the only other mention of four winds in the Bible other than that mentioned by Jesus in Matthew (Rev. 7:1), and the abrupt appearance in heaven of a multitude that "came out of the great tribulation," then I am seeing the same sequence of events mentioned in Matthew.

Now this wasn't meant to turn into a highly truncated explanation of the timing of the ingathering in regards to the tribulation. But in Scripture, context matters. And in Revelation, the Day of the Lord (which Jesus has told us in Matthew comes after the Great Distress) is plainly placed after the opening of the Seals.

1st Seal - "Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest." (My thoughts: Conquest backed by the threat of force rather than the use of force. The E.U.'s current expansion and increasing power over its member states could be seen as a form of conquest even if the states join willingly. They are, in a manner of speaking, being both seduced and coerced by the economic aspects of membership and non-membership. Far more subtle a way of building an empire than sending out an army to cudgel everybody into submission. By the way, in order to qualify as the final Gentile empire as described in the Scriptures, the E.U. must fulfill all of the relevant prophecies.)

2nd Seal - "Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other." (My thoughts: Jesus spoke of wars and rumors of war. I also think of the current "cartoon" riots which have resulted in the mutual destruction of shrines and lives. Could you ever imagine so small a thing in one country causing such devastating and unremitting violence in other lands?)

My Final Thoughts: I am wondering, by the evidence seen here on earth rather than any personal prophetic vision of what might be going on in the spirit, if the first two seals have not already been opened. Five seals must open before the Day of the Lord. The generation that saw the re-establishment of Israel will not pass away before all these things comes to pass. (It has already been 58 years, y'all. Time must be running short!)

If so, the economic disaster of the 3rd seal is next on the docket. I see the economic problems of the U.S., but what about the E.U. and Middle East, where these prophecies are centered? How are they doing economically? Do they have a Social Security system getting ready to implode? A housing market getting out of hand? A pending depression or recession?

And I especially suspect that the fourth and fifth seals involve the Great Distress, the last seals opened before the Day of the Lord.

I'm not a prophet but I do pay deep attention to things which the Most High has indicated will happen in my lifetime, and I do pay attention to economics and politics because they also affect my life and the lives of those I care about. And this is what is on my mind tonight.