The World on My Shoulders.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (NIV)

Warnings From Israel's History 1For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same spiritual food 4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
6Now these things occurred as examples[a] to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7Do 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 pagan revelry."[b] 8We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
11These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. 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 stand up under it.

Bear with me because this is my first go at this sort of thing. I have pasted the scripture here so that you can read what I am working from. Feel free to comment about what you like, don't like, or suggestions for change.

I chose this scripture because it relates to how we respond to adversity in our spiritual lives, plus it contains one of my favorite verses that I remember when I need some encouragement.

The first 5 verses gives us a quick review of a period of Israelite History. Remember the people who came out of Egypt with Moses across the divided sea and into the wilderness following the cloud and pillar of fire while God fed them and watched over them. They saw so many cool things that if I saw them today, there would be no doubt in my heart that God existed and is looking out for me. Despite all of their experiences with Moses and God and they saw it with their own eyes, they still allowed their hearts to turn to evil ways. How I wish sometimes that God would make a visual appearance on earth today so that I could see him working directly. It also scares the Be-Jesus out of me to think about it. He does work directly on earth through the Holy Spirit, but it just does not seem as obvious to us anymore.

Verse 6 points out that this scripture history was recorded as a warning to us now. There were major and immediate consequences back in the day. All of the Israelites who came out of Egypt with Moses died in the wilderness as punishment with the exception of Caleb and Joshua who believed that God would deliver them to the promised land. After the Israelites forced Aaron to make the golden calf, Moses made them walk through the camp with a sword at their side killing each other and 3000 people died that day. God wanted to smite them all, but Moses defended them and pleaded with God to spare them. (Exodus 32) These verses specifically warn us about idolatry, sexual immorality, testing God, and even grumbling.

It is so easy to let other things in life take the place of God in our hearts. Ask yourself, where is your passion? What is your top priority in life? What will you drop everything else that you are doing to work on? Maybe it's your job, your family, a television show, socializing with your friends. These things are not necessarily bad things, but if you drop God to do something else, you have your priorities messed up. I am very guilty of this when I try to block out my time in the evening so that I can play on the computer with some little new project I am working on, or I want to watch '24' on Monday nights. I justify it by saying that I deserve my time, but if I am cutting God out so that I can relax, I am off the mark.

The last several verses are my favorite because everything up to this point makes things look bleak for me because I let God slip in my priorities a lot more than I realize. This is where we are warned that if we think we are standing strong, we need to watch our step because the opportunites to fall are everywhere. Verse 13 is the verse that gives us hope.

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

Whatever adversity you face, there is someone else who is going through the same thing. Not only has others dealt with your situation, but God is right there with you and He know what you can and cannot handle. Its all in how you respond to adversity. If you believe that God's Word is the complete truth as I do, then you must know that no matter what trials you face, God will not let it crush you. The world may be coming down on you, but all you have to do is have faith and stand strong. Superchick has a song called Stand in the Rain. The chorus goes like this:

So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it’s all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won’t drown
And one day what’s lost can be found
You stand in the rain

This passage inspired me because I know that I have not been doing a very good job of standing firm lately when it comes to my time with God. I focus all of my energy on trying to carry the load of the world when I should be focused on God and just stand. There are sometimes where you just have to let go and let God. Will you weather the storms with me? We can build each other up in our times of great struggle. Sometimes all we need is to see someone else standing beside us for encouragement. You don't have to go it alone.

I hope that this has been a good thing for you. I can guarantee that they all will not necessarily be this long. It may sometimes just be a short snipet on a verse or 2. Please comment your thoughts or reactions.

Keep walking,

chris