God is Faithful

Let's take a look at 1 Cor 10:13. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: We, sometimes, get under the conviction that bad things happen to us because God is mad at us. Deuteronomy 8:2 says And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, [and] to prove thee, to know what [was] in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. First of all, if you are trying hard to live for Jesus, this applies to you. On the other hand, if you are dabbling around in sin and only living for Jesus in a haphazard manner, you get what's coming to you. You deserve your whippin's. Temptations will come to a Christian for a reason. God is wanting to see what is in your heart. He is trying to prove you through this test. He is also trying to prove Himself to you. Basically, He was fixing to bring His children into a place that was flowing with milk and honey. He wasn't going to leave them in the wilderness for the rest of their lives. He had an abundant blessing in store for them. But, He needed to see whether they really loved Him or not.
But God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; Notice our theme ---GOD IS FAITHFUL. Malachi 3:6-For I am the Lord, I change not; Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. You aughta be shoutin' right about now. God is faithful and He never, never, never, never changes. Luke 22:31-And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired [to have] you, that he may sift [you] as wheat: Jesus brings us into the reality of temptations, or times of trial. He said that Satan desires to bring things our way. Satan's desire it to tear us up. God only allows it to sift us, to separate the undesireable things that weigh us down. Here again, He wants to prove our hearts and prove Himself to us. Don't ever think that Satan is just plowing through us at his every whim. That is not the case. Our precious Heavenly Father is faithful to watch over us. Satan can only bring things into a Christian's life with the permission of a loving Heavenly Father. Notice what 1 Cor. 10:13 says--GOD WILL NOT ALLOW A TEMPTATION THAT WE ARE NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO HANDLE. Did you get that? When it looks like things are all messed up and way, way, way out of control. My Heavenly Father still, still, yes, He still has it under HIS control. Never, at any time, no way Jose, couldn't do it if he wanted to, can the devil just rip and tear into our lives just any old way he wants to. The God I serve has that mangy dog on one of those electric leashes and He has his finger on the power button. Glory to God. He only operates with God's permission and God is faithful to jerk back on that leash and pop the power button on him if he tries to get to high-handed with any child of God. (Go on and shout for a while, I know you want to. I know that I want to right about now.)
Hebrews 12:1 says that were are surrounded by a 'cloud of witnesses.' Read through Heb. 11 at the heroes of faith. God was faithful to bring them out of their time of temptation into the glory that He had for them. Most of them had worse circumstances than any of us. If He was faithful to bring them out and He never changes, then I can expect and praise Him to bring me out of what I am going through right now. I can say with all of the authority of the Word of God, that whatever you are going through, God will be faithful to bring you out, also.
Rom 8:28--And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. What is the qualification to have good things come our way---to love God. Can I qualify for that? You bet I can. Can you qualify for that? You bet you can. After all that the Apostle Paul went through, he could stand flat-footed, toe-to-toe, staring eye-to-eye with any devil (and that might include your in-laws, spouse, pastor or deacons) and say, "The God that I serve will work this shipwreck, and this beating and your tongue-wagging into something good for me. But, hey, sport, you'd better step back some because when He comes down to deliver me, he's gonna wipe out everything that looks like sin. And that just might be you."
If you're not shouting the victory right now, wait til you read this. The rest of 1 Cor 10:13 says this-but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it]. Keep this in mind the next time a trial comes. BEFORE God allows the time of trial to begin, He already has set aside enough power and blessing to bring you out. Read this part of that verse again and again and again until it sinks way down into your spirit. It says that when God releases the temptation to come to you, He also releases more than enough of whatever it takes to bring you out of it. He is faithful to bring you out. His love never fails. If you are in the middle of a trial right now, God released the blessing at the same time He released the trial. Did you see it in the Word? It said, 'With the temptation.'
And it also said, 'That ye may be able to bear it.' That means that God has been bragging on us to the devil. Remember, the devil has to ask permission first. God looks at us and sees something within us that can whip whatever the devil is asking to do. Remember, when Satan asked to sift Peter as wheat, Jesus did not say 'I'm gonna whip the devil for you.' No Jesus said that He would pray for Peter that his faith fail not. Jesus knew that it was necessary for Peter to face this horrible mistake Peter was fixing to make so that it would 'convert' him. Not that Peter was not saved. But the time of his testing converted Peter into the man of God that God always knew existed, the man the he saw in Peter. God was only allowing satan to sift all of the 'fluff and bluff' out of Peter so that all that was left in him was a strong relationship with Jesus Christ. When God got through with the trial, Peter was a powerful leader and soul-winner.
Remember these things as you go through life's trials. God is faithful. He brought many people through times of temptation just to show His mighty hand in their lives. The end result is always that souls are won and revival comes. Let Him reign in your heart and life today.