"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."
1 Corinthians 10:13
The whole idea that God won't give us anything that we can't handle is purely amazing. And of course when I say "handle" I don't mean that we can control everything. Huge things happen that are bigger than we are. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, giant other disasters. We can't control everything that happens to us in life... but what we can do, what God has promised us, is that we'll be able to bear our temptations (as it says above), and that we'll be able to do as he asks when he gives us a commandment (1 Nephi 3:7). Those are amazing promises... ones that I don't think that we always believe. I don't think that we always *want* to believe it. :) We sometimes want to give up, say it is too strong for us, and feel like that responsibility to resist the temptation or to follow the commandment isn't there anymore.
I think it is really empowering though, if we can get past that "poor me" stage, to think about the fact that we have a way to deal with every temptation and every thing that God asks... and what God asks is pretty much all of life, right? God has prepared a way for us to succeed. To accomplish all of it. Nothing is impossible that God has asked us to do. Even the "be ye therefore perfect" part.
This doesn't mean that we can deal with every situation immediately, or in the same way. Some temptations we can't face very well, and so God's way out in that instance isn't to stand there and take it, but to get out... run away. And that isn't anything to be ashamed of. Joseph did exactly the same thing with Potiphar's wife. The same thing with keeping the commandments. Sometimes we're not very good at it, and the reason that we are able to do it is because someone else is supporting us a lot, and sometimes we fail a lot at first and only get it down after numerous attempts. And that isn't necessarily anything to be ashamed of either. Remember Nephi and his brothers and the multiple attempts they made to get the plates from Laban. The amazing thing is that there is always a way to do the right thing, if we just keep trying. Today, let's find the temptation escape route. Let's stay far away from the things that tempt us to betray God. And let's not despair or give up in looking for the way to do as God asks.
1 Corinthians 10:13
The whole idea that God won't give us anything that we can't handle is purely amazing. And of course when I say "handle" I don't mean that we can control everything. Huge things happen that are bigger than we are. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, giant other disasters. We can't control everything that happens to us in life... but what we can do, what God has promised us, is that we'll be able to bear our temptations (as it says above), and that we'll be able to do as he asks when he gives us a commandment (1 Nephi 3:7). Those are amazing promises... ones that I don't think that we always believe. I don't think that we always *want* to believe it. :) We sometimes want to give up, say it is too strong for us, and feel like that responsibility to resist the temptation or to follow the commandment isn't there anymore.
I think it is really empowering though, if we can get past that "poor me" stage, to think about the fact that we have a way to deal with every temptation and every thing that God asks... and what God asks is pretty much all of life, right? God has prepared a way for us to succeed. To accomplish all of it. Nothing is impossible that God has asked us to do. Even the "be ye therefore perfect" part.
This doesn't mean that we can deal with every situation immediately, or in the same way. Some temptations we can't face very well, and so God's way out in that instance isn't to stand there and take it, but to get out... run away. And that isn't anything to be ashamed of. Joseph did exactly the same thing with Potiphar's wife. The same thing with keeping the commandments. Sometimes we're not very good at it, and the reason that we are able to do it is because someone else is supporting us a lot, and sometimes we fail a lot at first and only get it down after numerous attempts. And that isn't necessarily anything to be ashamed of either. Remember Nephi and his brothers and the multiple attempts they made to get the plates from Laban. The amazing thing is that there is always a way to do the right thing, if we just keep trying. Today, let's find the temptation escape route. Let's stay far away from the things that tempt us to betray God. And let's not despair or give up in looking for the way to do as God asks.
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