Help Wanted!

“I know I’m about to win! I’m so close!”

In the back of mind, I can still hear myself saying those words as my friends Lance, Gene, Murali, and Rich dragged me away from the video poker machines in Tahoe.  It was the first time I’d ever gone into a casino. I’d played penny poker with my friends before, but this was real money and it was exciting! The first time I won and heard those coins clinking into the tray made my heart race as the prospect of suddenly becoming rich seemed so close.  How easy it all seemed to be!  Pretty soon I went from playing one nickel to five without realizing it.  Soon, money was bleeding from my pockets.  I had planned to spend only $20 on gambling and already I had spent twice that, but I KNEW that big jackpot was right around the corner!  I KNEW IT!!!  Now, I was betting with food money.  But before I started thinking about selling my clothes to the pawn shop, my friends came over and pulled me away.  “Dude, forget about it.  Let’s go.”  “But I’m so CLOSE.”  I actually said those words.  “I’m SO CLOSE!” “You can’t win dude (remember this was the ‘80s – there were a lot of ‘dudes’).  It’s set up for you to lose.”  “But I know I’m going to win big!” My friends told me they were leaving and they had the car so I had to go, but it was so hard to leave that seat.  I realized later how I had been blinded by the allure of BIG MONEY!  Yes, even from a nickel video poker machine. If it hadn’t been for my friends, I might have starved the rest of the trip.  I needed them without even realizing it. 

Sometimes life is like that.  We need more help than we realize.

We get caught up in the middle of something and we get lost in it.  Or we find ourselves in a situation we think we can handle but pretty soon you’re overwhelmed like an ocean wave capturing you by surprise. Have you ever felt that?  That feeling of being at the mercy of something you can’t even see.  The first time a wave caught me by surprise, I was sure I could handle it, but the tide was much stronger than I thought and pretty soon I’m tumbling head over heels.  I tried to put my feet down in the sand, but literally couldn’t tell which way was up. It was scary. We get caught in situations like that, thankfully not too often. Situations that creep up on us before we even know it.  The sudden death of a loved one.  A relationship coming to an end.  A scary diagnosis from the doctor.  And about the worst thing you can say in those moments? “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.”

I know it’s said with the best of intentions.

Someone, probably someone you love, is trying to give you hope and letting you know that you’ll get through this okay.  But will you?  What happens if you don’t get through this okay?  Is that your fault?  Like the phrase “Everything happens for a reason,” this one is fraught with many of the same problems.  It implies God DID this, whatever this is.  God did this TO YOU.  God gave you this problem, this tragedy, this situation.  Just because God thinks you can handle it?  Whether we can handle it or not, we would rightly question a cruel God who would make us go through pain and suffering JUST because “we can handle it.”  And the truth is, not everyone can. According to the World Health Organization over 700,000 people commit suicide every year. If God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, then why are there people who can’t handle it?  Even pastors aren’t immune.  In a study of Protestant pastors from the Barna Group, they found nearly 1 in 5 have at least had thoughts of suicide or self-harm in the past year.  One in 10 had at least occasional thoughts of it and thankfully only 1% were severe.  Not even pastors are immune. 

So where does this idea come from?

Like many false beliefs it comes from the Bible.  Or to be more precise a bad interpretation of the Bible. We’re going to read this morning from 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 so if you have a Bible or a Bible app with you, this is Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth in the New Testament.  1 Corinthians 10:1-13.  It started with Job.  In Job, God allows Satan to tempt Job away from his faith in God but to no avail.  Despite the numerous tragedies that are heaped upon Job, Job remains God’s faithful servant.  But what most people don’t know is that the Book of Job is not a true story.  This isn’t meant to be historical literature like 1 and 2 Kings or the Gospel of Luke.  Instead it’s meant to convey an idea about God through story. The Book of Job is more akin to an expanded Aesop fable than it is to the historical literature.  But because most people don’t know that they treat Job as if it happened word for word.  And it becomes this ultimate example of God not giving us more than we can handle.  But it’s just not true.  The story is meant to show us the power of faith through difficult times and how faith in God and trust in God can give us strength.  It’s not meant to say we will never be overwhelmed with what happens to us in life.  We can’t all be Job, nor are we supposed to be. In the same way, this passage from 1 Corinthians is meant to encourage us in times of difficulty but it’s been taken to mean the same thing, “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle.”  If you would please rise as you’re able, we are going to read this morning from 1 Corinthians 10:1-13.  Hear now the Word of God.

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. ² They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵ Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

⁶ Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” ⁸ We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. ⁹ We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. ¹⁰ And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.

¹¹ These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. ¹² So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. 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 endure it. – 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

“He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.”

That’s the troubling line.  “He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” That’s where we get this idea that God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, but the differences here are subtle and significant and that’s why I wanted to read the whole passage to you. When you read it in its entirety, you get a clearer picture of what’s happening.  In the church at Corinth, they weren’t struck with some catastrophe and now Paul is writing to them with words of condolence.  They weren’t going through a time of difficulty and Paul is trying to give them hope.  It’s the people willfully walking away from God for the next best thing.  They are being tempted to walk away from their faith, and Paul is comparing that to what happened in the past to the people of Israel. The people of Israel were tempted by the next shiny object like New Age crystals or numerology and turned to those things instead of God.  The people of Israel saw other religions who offered them promises that seemed more appealing like prosperity preachers today who tell you if you only have enough faith then you will be rich here on this earth.  That’s the kind of temptation Paul is saying is not more than we can bear. Paul is reminding them not to fall prey to hucksters and scam artists and false prophets who are trying to lead them away from God.  This isn’t a commentary by Paul about tragedy and hardship. Because Paul knows about tragedy and hardship.  He even gives a list of them in the Bible including being whipped five times, beaten with rods, stoned, imprisoned, shipwrecked three times!  Cold, naked, hungry and thirsty.  Paul has seen it all. But this warning we are reading isn’t about God not giving you more than you can handle.  It’s a plea for the church to keep their faith and to turn to God in our troubles.

God is waiting for us to put out a “Help Wanted” sign on our lives.

To acknowledge that we can’t do it alone.  God stands ready to help, to offer us solutions, to give us alternatives, to put people in our lives who can support and guide us – but we still have to acknowledge we need it.  In his book Half Truths, Adam Hamilton writes, “The promise of Scripture is not that we won’t go through hard times…What Scripture does promise is that at all times, good or bad, God wants to be our help and our strength.”  That’s the key.  We WILL go through hard times.  There will be times when its more than we can bear.  But we don’t have to make that journey alone.  If you haven’t made the decision to turn your life over to God or if its something you’ve been struggling with, I want to encourage you to do so.  To be open to the possibility that there is a God in Heaven who really does want to help.  That his help may come in ways you are not expecting.  A friendly voice, a kind gesture, a mysterious note, or even an email.  I’ve found that in each instance where I truly surrendered myself to God, something has happened. It’s not always what I expected (in fact it almost never is), but something happens and I know that God’s hand was in it.  God doesn’t test us in the way we often think.  I don’t think God sets up situations to see if we are faithful.  I think things happen to us and God hopes that instead of turning to something else we seek his guidance and his help.  Like I said, it may not always turn out the way we want, but if we are willing to go down the path God is taking us it can often be  better than we imagine.  In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.