More than you can bear

[Sunday21]

I was wondering about the ‘God will not give you more trials than you can bear’ saying. Is this saying scriptural? From a prophet? 

Anyone know?

[zil]

@Sunday21, it is an erroneous shortening of this verse:

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1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

...The correct idea being that whatever temptations you suffer, the Lord will offer a way to resist or escape that temptation.  Related ideas:

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D&C 95:1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you whom I love, and whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance in all things out of temptation, and I have loved you—

...and...

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1 Nephi 3:7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

Hugs & prayers! 

Is there anything (else) we can do to ease your burden?

[CV75]

36 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

I was wondering about the ‘God will not give you more trials than you can bear’ saying. Is this saying scriptural? From a prophet? 

Anyone know?

I was thinking the same thing as zil, where I think temptation applies to trials as well. And where all trials have been borne by Christ, and He has overcome them all (sin and death in all their forms), any trial we face can be overcome through Him, whether in this life or the next. We can always have, or eventually develop, faith in Him in the midst of our trials.

[Sunday21]

@zil Many thanks! I will meditate on these scriptures! 

[Traveler]

2 hours ago, Sunday21 said:

I was wondering about the ‘God will not give you more trials than you can bear’ saying. Is this saying scriptural? From a prophet? 

Anyone know?

 

Some thoughts: 

One from an old seminary teacher in another life: “Wickedness never was happiness – but it was sure fun while it lasted.”

One from me that I wrote in my journal also during another life:  “I am a strong righteous son of my Father in Heaven that can accomplish and do anything – I can with great power stand against anything the adversary throws against me – I can do anything and all things; with the one exception of resisting temptation.”

 

 

The Traveler

[Fether]

And I’ll throw in my 2 cents.

I think the phrase means more that God will provide a way for us to get through the trial rather than suggesting there are certain trials we are unable to bear. I myself thought it meant the latter for a long time.

[lostinwater]

12 hours ago, Sunday21 said:

I was wondering about the ‘God will not give you more trials than you can bear’ saying. Is this saying scriptural? From a prophet? 

Anyone know?

i've always thought C.S Lewis' book, "A Grief Observed" gives just a brutally honest - and in a way strangely comforting - look into trials and how the average person deals with them.  It is just so honest about the pain that you can see was only temporary.  A lot of books about people just talk about how they endured with perfect faith - and that's just so often not how we feel going through it.  Or at least not how i feel.  Perhaps you've already read it, though.

And then somehow, this video just seemed really applicable - from my all-time favorite artist.  i hope you don't see it was like a 'just get over it' - because i hate that kind of response to pain.  It for me is just this reminder that underneath the hell of pain, there's a kind of beauty that's kept safe.  And that trials aren't allowed to touch that.  If it doesn't elicit that kind of positive reaction in you, i hope you will just forget about it, and can forgive my posting this.  The link puts you to the middle part of the video - where i feel it gets really good.

 

[Guest MormonGator]

3 minutes ago, lostinwater said:

i hope you don't see it was like a 'just get over it' - because i hate that kind of response to pain. 

I don't think any of us here could imagine you saying such a dismissive and cruel remark, @lostinwater

[Sunday21]

@lostinwater Thank you! I found the CS Lewis book!

[wenglund]

On 3/8/2018 at 5:48 AM, Sunday21 said:

I was wondering about the ‘God will not give you more trials than you can bear’ saying. Is this saying scriptural? From a prophet? 

Anyone know?

I like what others have said, though I believe there is also the prospect of trials or temptation exceeding our capacity to overcome.

For one, the curse that God pronounced upon Satan after the fall implies the capacity for Satan to become overbearing, and God's curse prevented him from doing so. (Moses 4:21) In this sense, "God will not give you more trials than you can bear."

For another, however, people can make choices that may prevent any return to righteousness. (Mosiah 3:25; 3 Ne 27:11,17) In this case, the overbearing trials are not given by God, but are a function of agency in defiance of God. So, while" God will not give you more trials than you can bear," we can bring upon ourselves unbearable trials through intentional disobedience to God.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

 

[wenglund]

2 hours ago, changed said:

I think some are given trials through no fault of their own - consider all of the children who starve to death, those who are abused their entire lives and go insane - I can think of plenty of innocent little children who have been given more than they are able to bear, and this actually really bothers me about g-d.

It would bother me also about God were I to only consider the negative half of the faultless trial equation--i.e. were I to only look at the suffering aspect and not the comfort and mercy and transcendent grace aspects. Contrary to what you suggest, the faultless trials will all be overcome in Christ and will be rendered relatively meaningless in the eternities.  

Truth is, we must all pass through the gauntlet of pain and tears in order to reach the mountain tops of peace and joy. The issue, then, isn't whether trails should or shouldn't be allowed by God to occur (faultless or otherwise), but how we each ought to respond to them.  It is within the depths of suffering that not only is God most blessedly revealed, but also our own nature--our better or worst selves.

At least that is how I have come to understand things.

Thanks, -Wade Englund- 

[wenglund]

14 hours ago, changed said:

 

It has not been my experience that g-d is revealed in suffering... unless you mean that he is revealed as an unloving, unjust, unmerciful tyrant who does not help the majority of his children.  Abuse brings out my worst self.  

That makes some sense.

The Apostle Paul intimated that we see God as if through a glass darkly (1 Cor. 13:12)--which is the old fashion way of referring to a mirror.

In other words, the way we view God is, in part, a reflection of us. That is why I said that in the depths of suffering not only is God revealed, but also our better or worst selves. 

Meaning, that those whose hearts well up in compassion and mercy and edifying action in the face of suffering, will tend to see God as compassionate and merciful and transcendent. Whereas, those who become cynical and bitter and resentful in the face of suffering, will likely see God as unloving, unjust, and an unmerciful tyrant. 

We interpret God through the filter of our world view as shaped by our life experiences and how we respond to them.

And, it isn't just the way we view God that is affected by how we respond to life experiences, it also influences how we view are fellow man, and even ourselves. As ye judge, so shall ye be judged.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

Edited March 12, 2018 by wenglund

[warnerfranklin]

From our leadership:

“Don’t ask God to give you challenges equal to your abilities, ask Him to give you abilities equal to your challenges.”  Elder Holland 

“You haven’t failed until you have given up.”  Elder Uchtdorf 

“In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is limited.”—Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Lord, I Believe” .

 

[wenglund]

2 hours ago, changed said:

Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do...

It is one thing to forgive those who have abused you personally, it is another to forgive those who have abused your children.  It seems somehow unmerciful/unloving to the abused to forgive and love those who hurt them.  

My point was less about forgiving the perpetrators and far more about treating the victims, including, using your one example, the parents and guardians of the children who were abused. God will be reflected in the manner in which the victims choose to heal or fester.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[EricM]

I've always thought that God would never give us more than we can bear without His help. There have been moments in my life where things were indeed more than I could bear. Broken, I would turn to the Lord, and would somehow overcome the trial.

I also think that it is important to keep a long-term, or even eternal perspective in relation to this statement. In my experience, it's far easier to see God's hand in my life after a trial than during the trial. But there are circumstances that people have mentioned here where the trial seems to last a lifetime, or is life-ending. It's with these that an eternal perspective would be the only one that would make sense. (But even this can be impossible to understand from our temporal perspective without God's help because we can only observe the brutalities of mortality from our end.)