I ran across a quote this afternoon in the devotional booklet "Our Daily Bread". The quote reads as follows: "Can God trust you with sorrow, With anguish, and with pain, Or would your faith soon falter And faint beneath the strain." – Nicholson
I re-read it and became stuck on that first line…can God trust you with sorrow. I’ve never heard of this before…and it strikes me as interesting, thought-provoking, and even a little revolutionary! Does the trust God has in us result in more or less sorrow and pain in ourselves? Is that even the point? And as I’m sitting here reflecting on this, trying to make sense of it, a phrase enters my mind "God doesn’t give us more than we can bare", and another quickly follows – "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength"…interesting. But how does this enter into whether or not we have sorrow or pain in our lives? or does it even at all? How would God trust us with sorrow or pain? Would it simply be God trusting us to trust in Him throughout the sorrow and pain? Is that what the author is getting at? Or am I totally off the mark?And from our point of view, we usually end the sentence differently…"can God trust us with the gifts He’s given us…the talents He’s bestowed on us…with spreading the good news…" however, who ever thought to ask, can God trust us with pain?? who would WANT to be trusted with sorrow and pain??! And why is there trust involved with the entrance of pain into a person’s life? Perhaps it has to do with the second phrase of the quote…"or would your faith soon falter and faint beneath the strain"…God does not want to see His children lose faith, lose their way, or become lost in the tragedy and dramas of life. So is it that He trusts us with just the right amount of sorrow and pain to keep us growing in Him, rather than giving us more than we could bare, and therefore resulting in a loss of faith and belief in Him?? I’m not sure…I don’t know how to take this quote. It intrigues me and confounds me at the same time. It keeps me going back to it and looking at it again, trying to find some deep meaning to it that i’m sure exists to the author, however, continues to elude me. If anyone has any thoughts on the quote, feel free to share!! I’d love to hear another opinion on this!
In response consider the following:
This is a good quote and definitly one to ponder. Keep in mind that 1 Cor. 13 (my favourite verse) which speaks of not allowing us to go through more than we can handle is speaking very specifically of temptation – not pain or burden in general.
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also." John 15:18-20
Christ warns us of the trials to come as a follower of Him. I don’t think it is God who makes us sorrowful but rather allows us to go through it. We will either go through it or "grow" through it (which is God’s intent). Consider James 1:2-4 which says:
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
The joy is not to be sadistic joy at being hurt but rather joy that God trusts us enough to continue our growth and maturity.
So than the question is asked again – can God trust you with sorrow?
Harnessing Chaos 
Actually, any talk of God "trusting" us sounds like a completely modernist kind of notion to me. What is this "trust" we\’re talking about?
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The idea of God trusting us here is in the sense of Matthew 25:21 –
"His master replied, \’Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master\’s happiness!\’ "
I think it gets to the heart of the question – is there is a point to sorrow? I do not believe God creates suffering but I do believe He can use it or allow it in our lives as He did in Joseph\’s life. How we respond to the sorrow (or joy, or anything for that matter) will impact our sanctification. It is not meant to infer that God depends upon us in any sense but He does give us responsibility which He does not have to – He gave Adam & Eve responsibility to care for the garden and all in it.
God trusts because as 1 John 4:8 says "God is love" and 1 Cor. 13:7 tells us that "love…always trusts".
In this I am thankful – for the nature of God is to continue to trust us when we miserably fail at the critical command of John 14:1 to "trust in God; trust also in me (Jesus)"
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Certainly God has given us the Gospel and given us work to do, certainly his Spirit bears fruit in our lives as he moves us to good deeds, being connected to him. I\’m not sure if this has much to do with what we commonly mean by trust. Love "believes all things" but that hardly means that God has unlimited faith in the potential of sinful humanity. Trust has to do with one who is trustworthy. God is the trustworthy one, not us. I can speak of trusting Jesus, and be at peace. But if the onus is on me to be the trustworthy one before God, the Law is all over me like a wet blanket and I must tremble in fear of judgment. My comfort is not that God "trusts" me in spite of my sins, but rather that he forgives me.
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Does God give us more than we can bear? I saw this interesting article. It answers some of my questions but not all.http://columns.christiansunite.com/column_152/More-Than-You-Can-Handle.shtmlThis article seems to imply that God will give us burdens that are more than we can bear. Why would God do that?
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It seems that we are likely in agreement and are really working through an issue of language and how each of us is approaching the definition of trust.
In terms of the article you present I again think of 1 Cor. 10:13 – God certainly does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear but as to other sufferings it is difficult to say. It depends upon our perspective I think…if one roots themselves in the fact that we are eternal and that what is happening here in this place and time is but a fragment of a fregment of our existence than it would seem that there is nothing we cannot bear – if we are certain of our eternal position in God; If we are not than perhaps life itself would become unbearable.
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