I received a phone call recently that no pastor wants to receive; a man in my church had suffered a massive heart attack and was not looking well at all. Four hours after I arrived at the hospital to be with the family, he died. You can imagine the offense. This man and his wife had experienced much pain over the years. I was reminded of their losing a son when I saw them crying over his grave after the woman’s father was buried just a few months ago. I was with this couple by another casket when his daughter-in-law was killed in a car accident a few weeks ago. And now this precious lady who loves the Lord was dealing with the loss of her husband of thirty-three years. She asked me a question while we were in that hospital waiting room: “They say God won’t put more on you than you can bear. But does God know when you’re hanging by a thread?”

Sometimes it doesn’t seem like God knows how we feel or what we’re going through. There are times when we don’t think we can make it. The Bible is full of God’s people who felt this way. The psalmist said: “O Lord, God of my salvation, day and night I cry before you… Because my soul is full of anguish and my life draws near to the grave… I am like a man who has no strength, to drift among the dead, like the dead that lie in the grave, whom you remember no more” (Ps 88, 1-5). These are vivid images if you think about them. David himself cried out: “I am tired of my moan; all night I make my bed swim, I soak my bed with my tears” (Ps. 6:6). More than once he felt that God had abandoned him. That is the context of the chorus we sang from his words: “As the deer pants for the streams of water, so my soul cries for you, O God, my soul” (Ps. 42:1). He was in a desert of depression and felt there was no way out. That’s why he said: “My tears they have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me: ‘Where is your God'” (v. 3)? When you have nothing to eat but your own tears, you are hanging by a thread.

And yes, God knows. The very fact that verses like these are all over the Bible tells us that God knows how we feel and has not abandoned us. When we are struck by wounds, He is with us, and indeed we have an endless supply of grace to draw from in times of need. That is why Paul said: “No trial has befallen you that is not common to men; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tested more than you are able, but with the test will also give you the way of escape, so that you can endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). (This verse applies to tests or temptations).

Now, these problems are “common to man.” Paul’s first word of encouragement is that we are not alone in our affliction. What we experience is experienced by others. We don’t need to feel like our burden is such that no one has ever faced the same thing.

But Paul also says something about God and his faithfulness to us. Despite the winds of adversity blowing, God does not forget those he loves. He knows that there are times when you are hanging by a thread, but he “will not allow you to be tested beyond what you are capable” of bearing. He will not allow a weight on you that you cannot bear by his strength and grace. He will not test you beyond your ability and the help you have in Christ.

God is the one who really provides “the way of escape.” The image here is of a ship on a rough sea in the midst of a fierce storm. The boat bounces in the rough waters and the wind pushes it directly towards the rocks. Nothing can be done and she is about to sink and be destroyed. It’s stormy, dark, and all hope is gone. However, just as calamity is about to strike, an opening appears in the rocks and the ship heads into a quiet cove where shelter from the storm is provided. The ship and crew are safe in the cove as if the storm is churning around them. The point is not that deliverance from the storm is God’s way of escape. Rather, the way of escape is God’s release into the creek so that one can safely weather the storm. That is why Paul adds, “that you may be able to bear it.” Christians face trials and temptations. However, God is faithful. He provides the escape route to weather the storm.

You say, “Okay, but what do I do? How do I get to the cove where I can feel like I’ll be able to weather this hurricane in my life?” The answer is our thinking. We have to fight the tendency to think of nothing but the suffering we face and really think more of God Himself; His goodness, love, grace, mercy and purpose for us in the midst of dire circumstances. God uses hard times to refine us as fire refines gold (1 Peter 1:6-7). It is the testing of our faith that produces the strength and character of Christ in us (James 1:3-4). God uses difficulties like a blacksmith’s hammer and anvil to make us more like Christ (Romans 8:28-29). We have to focus our thoughts on Christ and not on the tragedy. And that means we have to trust Him. Isaiah says, “You [God] He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3).

The Lord Jesus is the way of escape; “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted/tried in every way as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with confidence, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:15-16). Let’s cast all our anxiety on Him because He cares for us (1 Pet. 5:7). If we can do that, then slowly but surely that thread we’re clinging to that feels like it’s about to give way will become a chain attached to an anchor that cannot be moved: the Lord Jesus Himself ( Hebrews 6:19). -twenty). Yes, despite the storm, God knows, and the anchor will hold.