Today's Trouble

I often here individuals, quoting from 1 Corthians 10:13, saying, "God will not give us more than we can bear," which I believe to be a biblical truth, but not from that passage.  The passage actually reads, "...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 endure it."

That God will not give us more than we can bear can only be loosely supported by this passage in an indirect way if we maintain that a difficult situation tempts us to sin and God is promising to give us strength to resist that temptation by empowering us to bear the strain of the difficulty.  I can buy the logic but it is not truly the point of the text.

A better passage is Matthew 6:34, which reads, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."  Here the Lord plainly says that each day has enough but not too much trouble.

God engineers and empowers us to deal with today.  Paul maintained that he had even "learned the secret of being content in any and every situation" (Phil 4:12).  But, we are not equipped to deal with the burdens of today if we pile on the worries of tomorrow and/or the regrets of yesterday.

It is not the weight of what we are facing today that overwhelms us, as difficult as that day may be.  It is in combining that weight with what we might face tomorrow that pushes us beyond our ability to cope.  And when we add the additional weight of our bad choices or losses of yesterday to the mix, we are really mixed up.

Here's the deal, God will "give us this day our daily bread" (Matt 6:11).  He will even do "more than we can ask or imagine according to his power at work within us" (Eph 3:20), but he operates in our lives today, not yesterday or tomorrow.  Yesterday is a cancelled check, tomorrow is a promissory note, today is the currency we have to spend.  He will provide enough for today.

So, "do not worry about your life.  The Father knows what you need and as you seek his kingdom as first priority, he will take care of all the rest" (condensed paraphrase of Matt 6:25-33).  Today may be very difficult but it will not be too much for God will not "leave you as an orphan" (Jn 14:18).  And, nothing will happen today that you and God cannot handle.  Jus' Say'n.