Not Tempted Above What We Are Able

I think the best resource we have to develop trust that God will not allow us to be tempted above our abilities is the scriptures. Moroni exhorts us to “remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things” (Moroni 10:3). When Nephi and his brothers were seemingly tempted above that which they were able, Nephi reminded them of the time Moses and his people faced a lot more than Laban and his fifty soldiers. The first part of 1 Cor 10:13 tells us that temptation is our common lot in life. It’s going to happen to all of us. And it may often seem that we are tempted above that which we are able to bear. But there are really three possible outcomes to facing these kinds of temptations. We can lose our faith in God and turn away from Him, and thus be unable or unwilling to recognize the many chances He gives us to escape our temptation. This is like when the children of Israel were bitten by the snakes. Many people followed the Lord into the desert but when they were bitten by the serpent, they made a decision that this was too much to bear and God must never have loved them in the first place, must not have existed at all if he couldn’t prevent them from being sick, and so when the way of deliverance was offered, they could not see it. They didn’t believe in God and they didn’t believe that this temptation could be overcome, there was no miracle in looking on a brazen serpent. God may not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but we are definitely able to reject and deny God’s mercies and be swallowed up in the misery of our temptation. When we refuse God’s help, we have no choice but to place our faith in our own strength, and when we have once deemed God too weak to overcome this burden, we will find quickly that we are much weaker than God, and while we could have faced the temptation with the Strength of the Lord and overcome, when we try to face the same temptation with only our own rapidly dwindling strength, we will soon find that we are tempted above our abilities, for we will have diminished and weakened our abilities through our doubts and our fears. But, if we turn to the Lord, if we trust in Him, if we are lifted up and inspired by the many examples in the scriptures of times when the Lord showed His mercy and His power to deliver His children, then we will find that God will either deliver us from temptation, or make us strong enough to endure and overcome it. Either He will provide a way for us to escape, or He will make us able to bear the temptation. Look at the people of Alma. When the guards of King Noah came to destroy them, God provided a means for them to escape. However, when they were then discovered by the Lamanite armies, God did something else. He did not deliver them immediately, but rather strengthened them so that they could bear their temptations. Temptations are common to man. Whether we’re ten or one hundred and ten, we will be tempted and tried. Whether we are in the service of God or in the service of ourselves, we will be tempted and tried. Whether we pray without ceasing or refuse to acknowledge the Hand of the Lord, we will be tempted and tried. But when we put our trust in the Lord, He will either lead us out of temptation or give us the strength we need to bear it. Remember, even the Savior at the Garden of Gethsemane had to be comforted by an angel because even He was worried that He was being tempted above that which He was able to bear. We should not berate ourselves if our temptations seem greater than we are able to bear, but we should never give up hope that God has an escape plan ready for us, or that He will fill us with His divine power so that our problems don’t seem so impossible.