Memory Verse: And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands. I Samuel 17:47

The psalmist wrote, “Jesus, He knows, how much we can bear.” I Corinthians 10:13 reads, “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.”

Though in life we often live forward and understand through hindsight; through trials and tribulations we may try to grin and bear it – that is, to put on a happy face and take it like a proverbial bear, charging through the front lines as if we were invincible. God knows our soft spots. He knows that as he knew the very place where Goliath was vulnerable. He knows how to slay the giants that would stand between us and His almighty hand.

Romans 8:37-39 reads, “(37) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (38) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, (39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When we come into diverse temptations, God does not experience spontaneous blindness. He sees our challenge with an added benefit that we may lack – he already knows the outcome. If we can learn to bear, or carry our burdens to the Lord, we will not need to keep straining our backs under weights too great for us, weights we were not intended to suffer through – but were meant to trust Him with for deliverance.

Bearing all to the cross could mean charging forward with all your might – because there is nothing more important than getting there; yet it should also mean coming to God as a first rather than a last resort, to allow Him to be the first responder to your situation.

If we thought that more than we could bear, or handle on our own was being doled out to us, we would feel betrayed. Let us re-examine our portion of dealing… We are not meant as people to deal with any situation alone. There is both counsel and prayer to the omnipotent God for leading. We must take care not to isolate ourselves, to isolate our thinking, which often leads to feeling that there is nowhere to turn in time of need; and even if there is no other person within reach, God is near.

If we feel unable to stand our ground in the midst of a trial, it may seem that our once fruitful tree has gone bare – this is not the bear that we hoped to be in the face of trouble. Remember that the same God who withered a fruitless fig tree also brought water out of a rock. Striving for perfection does not mean that you will be perfect in striving – you could be: yet and if you are not, God still reigns.

You may not have had the faith of David when facing Goliath; or perhaps you did once before, but are now facing a different situation that has shaken your resolve. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the God of Alex, Jared, Becky, Lisa… and you. If we can understand that God is not just for those other folks, we can experience the relationship He intends for us to have to with Him.