I can not begin to count the number of times over my years of ministry I have heard believers, in the midst of a difficult situation in life, state this conviction about God.

Clearly, it is a source of great comfort to many and, it would seem, one which experience has verified to be true.

"God will not let you be tested beyond your strength".

This biblical promise is loaded with food for thought:

What does it mean to say God tests us?
Why does God test us?
What does such an idea say about God?

To reflect upon these questions it seemed to me that the best place to start is the context in which St Paul spoke these words of assurance.

The tenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, in which this assurance occurs, is one in which Paul is cautioning believers about taking the promises of God for granted. It would seem that Paul was speaking to believers who understood their freedom in Christ as a licence to do whatever they wanted. We know how the argument goes in our heads, "All these rules and regulations aren`t for me, I`m a good person without them" or we say, "I know that Jesus loves me so I can always count on him to understand (and forgive) regardless of what I do". Paul cautions, "Do not become idolators", that is, do not replace God with yourself- we all have a tendency to make God in our own image! It would seem that some thought themselves so spiritually superior that they set aside the commandments and ignored the teachings of the Hebrew and Christian Covenants.

Such persons as these, according to Paul, have failed the test. What test exactly? They failed the faithfulness test. God`s faithfulness as shown to us in the covenants of our faith is always the measure of their lives to which we committed ourselves at baptism. From this perspective we can see how Paul could talk about God testing them. God, through the scriptures and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, has set before humanity the knowledge, the spiritual means and the capacity for choosing life over death, love over self-centredness. God has show us God`s will and God invites us to live accordingly. The choice is ours.

Furthermore, in addition to these specific revelations, God has created the universe to function according to certain laws- call them laws of nature. These laws are so obvious they hardly need restating, but I will, just so you are clear as to my meaning.

If I step off my 10th floor balcony I fall down not up
If I step of my 10th floor balcony I will die, not bounce back up
If I am deprived of oxygen, food, water I will die.

Since we believe that God is the Alpha and the Omega we can say that God created these natural laws. In a way we might say that God`s will operates at different levels: at a general or impersonal level, as through the laws of nature; and in a particular or personal level, as with the spiritual laws of revelation ( we are probably more familiar with the term "promises" than the term "laws").

It is very important not to confuse these.

But people do confuse the two. When we say that God decided when someone dies or that God willed that a child be severely handicapped to us or that God caused someone to get ill to punish them, I cringe. They have confused God`s general will with God`s particular will. Today it is uncommon to hear people attribute tragedies to God but not uncommon to speak as if God decides when someone will die.

Two or three years ago a boy on a school visit from out of town, drowned in the swimming pool of a local hotel. It was a horrible tragedy. I read in the newspaper about the boy`s funeral. It reported that the pastor tried to comfort the mourners by telling them that God has called the child to himself.

I can tell you, if I had been the father of that child, I would have instantly jumped to my feet and fled that church with my son`s body. The pastor made an outrageous error in confusing God`s general will with God`s particular will. Did the pastor really mean to say that God caused this tragedy in order to take the child away from his parents? I hope the newspaper misunderstood what the pastor said.

Only in a general sense can one say God caused the boy`s death. Yes, the laws of nature, created by God, applied to the lad as to us all. He was deprived of oxygen and he died. But in terms of God`s spiritual law or revelation, God is never the angel of death.

Let me repeat that, God is never the angel of death. The whole meaning of God is life. Jesus Christ conquered death, not become its servant.

In order to attribute the hour of our death to God we must imagine that God sits in heaven and looks down upon earth and commands, " Today, I will strike Jimmy with leukemia, and Mary`s child with Down`s syndrome, and its time for Fred to die, and I`ll take 200 people in Madrid with a terrorist attack". This is the logical conclusion one comes to if we think God directly wills our death. It is an absurd idea without foundation in Christian teaching. To say such a thing is like saying that the engineers who design automobiles are directly responsible for all deaths caused by automobiles. No, death caused by automobiles, in most cases, is caused by human error and the inexorable working out of the laws of nature. If you are in a car travelling fast when it hits a solid object, the chances are that the laws of nature will cause your death. Our death, by whatever means, happens by the inexorable working out of the laws of nature, which as Paul reminds us, are in "bondage to decay", that is are also subject to death.

People die, get sick, are injured, and are born with chronic birth defects because of two things: the laws of nature, and another factor which the Judeo-Christian tradition calls "sin". All of God`s creation (including God`s general and particular laws) is subject to sin. Paul says, "For the creation waits with eager longing ...in the hope that creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God " (Rom 8:20ff).

We believe that we live our lives in the care of God. The bible asserts that God creates out of love and for love. But God`s loving will for us is corrupted or interrupted by human actions, some of which we can easily identify. But many of the by forces of death are too complex and hidden for us to understand or see.

For example, I can understand how environmental degradation caused by human wrong-doing, can result in natural disasters- we hear of them every day and will, no doubt, hear of them more frequently. But not all natural tragedies are the result of human wrongdoing. Earthquakes occur, volcanoes erupt, and people are born with genetic disorders which may or may not be related to some human action. The web of sin is also destructive forces beyond those unleashed by human wrong-doing. The bible sometimes refers to such forces as Satan.

But what Paul wants us to remember at all times is that the spiritual law of God is superior to the natural law of God. The victory of Jesus Christ over death is the ultimate proof of this. By natural law we are subject to decay and death, inevitably; but by God`s spiritual law we are destined through Jesus Christ to life. The ultimate will of God is the total restoration of all things to beauty, harmony, and health. As St Paul says, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2).

When Paul tells us that God will not allow us to be tested beyond our strength Paul is reminding us of the superiority of the spiritual revealed law of God over the laws of creation. We may have little or no control over the latter but we are full partners with Christ in having access to the spiritual laws (promises) of God , "We know that all things work for good for those who love God", Paul says, and further, "Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Romans 8:35ff).

Many people today no longer feel or believe or think that the beginning and end of life rests in the hands of a loving God. For many the universe is not a benevolent place, not invested with ultimate meaning, not directed by a master plan. For many God is dead. That is, the capacity of many to feel God`s presence is so impaired that they feel and think that Christian claims are simply wishful thinking. Do you sometimes wonder if all this religious stuff is just wishful thinking? That God is just an anthropomorphic projection we create to help us deal with our fear of extinction? Even those of us who claim to be believers are stricken with these kinds of doubts- and the intellectual and technological advances of the last 100 years make it even harder for believers to hold on to this conviction. The very temper of our age tests us daily.

Because we believe in sin we know that we are always surrounded by forces hostile to God and God`s people.God knows that we are tested daily by life in this environment.

But even more important than this kind of testing is the means God provides for our strengthening. Through the church, God provides the means for our strengthening in order that we might live with an abiding confidence that all things, even the awful ones, fit into an overall plan anchored in God`s love. Furthermore, we know that in facing difficulties we need never be alone. God will provide, "..the Spirit helps us in our weakness..", Paul reminds us. This Spirit may not necessarily provide answers to all our questions but it will allow us to trust that God`s victory over all that is deadly is complete.

Why are some people destroyed by life and others not? You may recall the story of Terry Waite, the Archbishop of Canterbury's peace envoy who was kidnapped and imprisoned in solitary confinement for four years in Beirut. Why did this man can come away from that experience not destroyed, like so many, but strengthen in faith? His book, Taken on Trust (Doubleday, 1993, p321) is a testimony to the power of the Spirit through God`s word and God`s people strengthening him. Hundreds of today`s victims of such incidents are crushed. They went through their experience of no sense of God`s protection and no capacity to hold on to hope. They felted tested beyond their strength.

Let me share with you a passage from Terry Waite`s book where he describes his own experience of being protected by God,

I look back over the years of my captivity. I have had no great thoughts, no illuminating inspirations. Better men than myself would have been able to dig deeper into their inner experience. All I seem to have done is keep afloat and withstand the storms. I remember my student days when there would be furious arguments about doctrinal points. We debated as though our very lives depended upon correct formulations of dogma. Now, all my thinking seems to centre around basic points: love, hate, light, dark, fear, joy, life, death.

Each day I have walked through the Psalmist`s valley. The shadow of death has been around me. Then, for a space, I have caught a glimpse of the warmth of light, and the shadow has receded. Christ in his teaching spoke so simply and yet so profoundly about the essential fundamentals of life. Who is this mysterious figure who speaks through the pages of the New Testmanet? Mt knowledge of his is culturally conditioned. I know that he has taught me to face life as it is and not to be afraid of death. I may die in captivity. I may not see my family and friends again. Whatever happens, I have not been destroyed. My prayers have been puny, but once or twice I have touched the awesome mystery which lies at the heart of the universe, and which I call God. Awesome is the only word I can find to describe what I mean. In Christ I see the light side of God, which give me strength and hope. His death graphically illustrates the polarity I know in my inner being. By allowing my unconscious to work, I will find healing and strength. (P. 312)

We are opened to the Spirit every time we assemble together as people of faith, as we are at this moment. We are opened to the Spirit very time we read and study God`s word and every time we reach out to one another with some word or gesture of encouragement, and I might add, every time we are tested. While no one can control when and how and where God`s Spirit will operate, we do believe, as Christians, that the church is God`s appointed place for the Spirit to move.

Thanks be to God