In my first post in this series, I addressed the common Christian cliche that "God has a wonderful plan for your life." As is the case with most faulty Christian cliches, I suggested there is an element of truth to the statement, though the context in which it is used generally does not fit the biblical pattern. In this post I would like to address a second, very common Christian cliche. But before we get there, I'd also like to remind that my intent with this series is not belittlement or mockery, but edification and instruction. With that said, the second faulty Christian cliche I'd like to tackle is "God will not put more on you than you can bear" OR "If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it." "Now what can possibly be wrong with that statement?" you might ask. I think quite a bit if improperly nuanced, as is often the case. In fact, there are some major assumptions which underlie this cliche which I think misunderstand the biblical portrayal of the nature of God.
As we saw with the first cliche, there is a biblical text which undergirds this cliche, though its usual interpretation is problematic. Here our passage is 1 Corinthians 10:13. First, in the context (going back to chapter 8), Paul is dealing with the issue of eating meat sacrificed to idols. The context of 1 Corinthians 10 is Israel's succumbing to idolatry, along with sexual immorality, disunity, and testing Christ (things which Paul throughout the letter has addressed to the Corinthians). Paul then asserts God will provide a way out to escape the temptation. 1 Corinthians 10:14 reconfirms the context, as Paul commands the Corinthians there to flee from idolatry. The verse does not mean Christians are exempt from succumbing to temptations. Rather, it serves both as a warning to those who would think they cannot stumble and as a comfort to the tempted. It is a bit of a leap, however, from this text to the notion that "God will not put more on you than you can bear." How so? First, the context in which the cliche usually occurs is not God's provision for our spiritual walk. It is usually a generic concern with "life's struggles." Paying the bills, dealing with heartaches and frustration, overcoming obstacles to our goals, etc. The thought is that "things are tough right now, but God will work everything out for my good." And when paired with Romans 8:28 (likewise generically misapplied), who could resist that notion!? Now all of this is in an eschatological sense true. God ultimately will give victory to his people. But that doesn't mean Christians will be exempt from failure and pain in "the now." Second, this cliche tends to assume, as do many of the faulty Christian cliches, that God is in control of everything. Now before you go to the "heresy!" charge, let me qualify that statement. There is, of course, a line of Christian thinking which asserts that God causally controls everything. This is frequently known as "determinism," which comes in a variety of forms. I do not think, however, that this adequately represents the biblical portrayal of God. In the first place, the biblical portrayal of God is fundamentally relational. God is actually involved in human affairs, not simply watching the dominoes He has lined up fall down. He is in covenant with His people, meaning they respond to Him and He responds to them. Secondly, there are things which we are told God does not causally control. He does not cause evil, sin, temptation, etc. But something, of course, does (see my earlier post on "Paul and the Powers"). This does not mean God is not "sovereign" (i.e., ultimately "in control" with no viable threats to his power imaginable or possible), but not every event or circumstance in life can be directly attributed to God's causal activity. Third, there are many inclinations in Scripture that the world is not as God intends it to be. I find the Lord's prayer a striking example of this. To pray for "God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven" assumes that God's will is not always done on earth! So yes, God is sovereign, but no, every event is not causally enacted by God. Getting back to our cliche, if God does not causally control every event in our lives, we cannot always be certain if our circumstances are causally God's doing. Furthermore, even if we determined a particular set of circumstances were causally arranged by God, this does not guarantee our "success" will ensue. As the events in the book of Acts attests, sometimes God calls his people to suffer. Sometimes they die for Him. I doubt many would argue Stephen was out of "God's will" when he was proclaiming the Good News, an activity which resulted in his being stoned to death! While it is comforting to think that "there is no safer place than being in God's will" (another common cliche!), Christians are not exempt from physical pain or death (except, again, in an eschatological sense). God may call us to suffer and die. Believers the world over experience this far more commonly than we "Westerners" can even grasp. And who would dare give this cliche to someone in those circumstances? So, is this cliche redeemable? In a sense, yes, if we mean either that God will not allow us to be tempted without providing a possible means of spiritual victory (through either the power of the Spirit or by means of a way of escape) or that God will ultimately vindicate and give victory to His people. That is not, however, the usual implication of the statement, which suggests life will not get harder than is tolerable. The fact of the matter is that sometimes life does. And so, like our first faulty Christian cliche, this statement generally, in my estimation, causes more harm than good.
2 Comments
Dana Burman
3/16/2015 02:15:21 pm
This brings to mind another line from the same author regarding hardship rather than temptation:
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AdamL.
3/18/2015 12:36:04 pm
Well written Prof Thornhill. For a moment I thought I was reading Lewis. This series seems to be combating prosperity theology. Knowledge > ignorant theology.
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