It was only as I was
brought to the point of sheer frustration, recently, that God was able to show
me a new thing; that is, a new thing for every person who follows Jesus. The
point I was brought to would have caused a different response until a short
time ago. Yet, like He did first thirteen years beforehand, the Lord showed me
that everything in life is a test. Seeing this is most of the battle.
The trials that confront us are faced by all human beings; however, God
is dependable: he won’t allow you to be tried beyond the limits of your
endurance, but with the trial [he] will also provide a means of escape,
enabling you to endure it.
— 1 Corinthians 10:13 (USC)
This is such an
important theological principle. One that is most often misread. The trials we
face are common to everyone, and yet these trials will push us to the limit,
before we learn that our limit isn’t actually where we think it is. We think
we’re pushed too far, but limits were made to be pressed too far. It’s how we
come to be resilient. It’s only when our limits aren’t pushed that we fail to
grow. But when we’re pressed past our limits we find God was always there to
catch our fall.
So, in this, we
learn a vital lesson. In being tested, and in being taken to the brink, even to
the point of stumbling and failing, God provides a means of escape which
enables us to endure it.
Then we find the
resilience within us is like the treasure Jesus speaks of:
The
kingdom of heaven is like treasure
hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy
went and sold all he had and bought that field.
— Matthew 13:44 (NIV)
The treasure is
worth more than any tangible possession, just as it is worth treasuring up
within us — the experience of being confident in our faith to endure the test.
Within the testing
time comes with the snapping point. And it’s only as we reach and go past the
snapping point that we find we’ve discovered a new resilience.
It’s that point
where we have been cajoled to rage, succumbed to despair, or simply pushed
through it.
Resilience is what
helps us to know that the point of discipleship is to be pushed beyond our
limit; to be stretched to breaking point, and to realise that that point is the
very precipice that brings us to learning.
God needs to break us
out of our dependence on comfort, to bring us to the discomfort that comes in
the test, which is the nexus of learning.
Within the snapping
point is the treasure. By noticing what once would break us, but now no longer
does, we’re shown our growth in the grace of resilience.
***
God won’t expose us
to every test common to humankind, but we all experience the tests He ordains
for us. Some of these tests will push us to and beyond our limit, for which
there is growth in the faith. When we reach breaking point, we find there is
something more; a great treasure worth hiding and hoarding. If the tests of
life cannot destroy us, nothing can.
God’s goal in our
practical lives is to expose us in experiencing His gospel power at work in us,
resurrecting us to a victory over the tormenting tests simply because we
pressed on.
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