Overcoming: Devotions from Time of GraceSample

Pain Has Limits Set by God

One of our recurring fantasies is that there are some people who have it all, who have no problems, who just seem to cruise through life. You can see their faces and hear their stories on prime-time TV. Maybe you wish you could have a life like theirs.

Maybe you've also secretly wished you could be a Christian superhero like Abraham or David or St. Paul. Actually, the heroes of the Bible suffered as much as or more than you.

One of the great sources of inspiration that helped St. Paul was God's promise to set limits to the amount of pain he would have to endure. Paul rejoiced to know that God would not let him be squeezed beyond what he could handle. God has set limits for each of his children, that their troubles may go only so far and no more. Paul wrote to some struggling Christians long ago, and he says to you now, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8,9).

Hey--cheer up!