Village Shepherd

I took a funeral a while ago, where the person had died suddenly and in rather horrific circumstances. The relative who was left was clearly very shocked and bewildered, but said, "Never mind, all these things are sent to try us."

This idea of being "tested" by a higher power is a very common one, and perhaps arises from passages such as today's epistle from 1 Corinthians chapter 10. In verse 18 St. Paul warns the Corinthians they are being tested, but adds comfortingly, "God will not let you be tested beyond your strength."

And there are many other passages in the Bible about trials and testing (eg. 1 Peter 1:7, Revelation 3:18). God's people are likened to precious metal which has to be fired in a furnace to remove the impurities, and "walking through fire" is a fairly common biblical image.

The Corinthians would have been very familiar with such imagery, for they were first century Greeks and therefore steeped in the myths and legends of ancient Greece, of Jason and Hercules and other forerunners of today's super-heroes.

There's something exciting and stimulating about the tales of super-heroes, whether from long ago or more recent additions like Superman and Batman. They all have to face apparently unreasonable odds, and they all eventually overcome those odds at great personal expense and through great personal danger. And the reward at the end, whether it's a golden fleece or a beautiful woman or the extinction of some kind of evil, is always well worth the effort.

St. Paul tells the Corinthians that it's a bit like that for Christians. Their life won't be easy, and they may well be persecuted in a variety of ways. The Corinthians didn't suffer from physical persecution. They weren't thrown to the lions or hung from crosses, but Christian lifestyle had to be opposed to the corrupting and degrading lifestyle beloved of the society and culture in which they lived.

Corinth was notorious as a hotbed of scandal and immorality and corruption, and to stand against that would have been tough for the Corinthian Christians. But it's necessary, says St Paul, if you really want to experience God's love to the full. And he goes on to use the Old Testament to show how close God was to his people throughout their time of "testing" in their wanderings in the wilderness.

For the first time in their history, God was so close to them, that he was there leading them in the form of a cloud going ahead of them during the day, and a pillar of fire leading them at night. God led them through the Red Sea, miraculously parting the waters for them so that they could walk across the sea and so escape the Egyptians. And when they were dying of thirst, God commanded Moses to strike a rock with his staff, and fresh water poured out for them.

The Jews always looked back to that time in the wilderness as the golden years, the years when the Jewish race was especially close to God. But St Paul warns that despite this closeness of God and the spiritual nurture they received, the Israelites continued to sin and many died there in the wilderness, never reaching the Promised Land.

Watch your behaviour and your lifestyle, Paul tells the Corinthian Christians, or you'll follow the same fate. But then he seems to acknowledge how difficult it is for the Corinthians, for he reassures them that they won't be tested beyond endurance.

The idea that we're never tested beyond our capacity for endurance is as common as the idea that any difficulties we may encounter in life are sent by God to test us. Perhaps in some measure these ideas have been responsible for the idea of the traditional British stiff upper lip.

For some people this seems to be true. Somehow or other they manage to cope with anything life throws at them. But I wonder whether it's true for everyone? Is it really true that God sends difficulties in order to test us? And is it really true that we're never tested beyond our capacity for endurance?

I don't believe that times of difficulty and stress are sent by God, although I do believe he can use those times for our benefit. Years ago, the ten-year old daughter of a friend of ours was abducted outside her primary school, and raped. I can't believe that was an experience sent by God.

When a beloved partner dies suddenly and prematurely, I don't believe it's because God has decided the time was right. I think it's more likely that medical science hasn't yet discovered all the answers, and that in future years, many of today's premature deaths will be prevented.

If times of difficulty aren't sent by God, then it follows that we might conceivably be tested beyond our endurance. And clearly, some people are. Some people have breakdowns of one sort or another, often many years after the precipitating event. A policeman has recently been awarded compensation by the courts for post-traumatic stress, following the Hillsborough disaster. But the signs of that stress didn't really manifest themselves for about nine years.

Is it any different for Christians? Can Christians hope to escape emotional or mental illness because of their faith? Is it true that they're only tested within their own capabilities?

I think the difference for Christians is not that they won't have illnesses or trauma just like anyone else, but that they have God to help them through their difficulties. St Paul describes Jesus as the rock which produces the water of life, and which is always present. If we are able, despite times of extreme stress and trouble, to hang onto that rock and drink deeply of that water which Christ offers, then although we may suffer terribly, through him we will at least emerge from the trouble in time. And through him we always have hope.

But that will only happen if through the good times, we've learned how to hang onto the rock and drink deeply of the water of life. And that means submerging ourselves in Christ so that the fruits of the spirit begin to grow within the depths of our being.

And then we'll find we've developed an inner strength, God's strength, which really will see us through any trouble.