Passing God’s Tests
In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul presents a pretty scathing critique of his ancestors. He gives a few examples of times in which they misbehaved and were severely punished. The purpose of this appears to be that his audience would use the example of Israel to not make the same mistakes. He reassures his audience that though they will be tested, God will provide a way for them to endure without losing faith. They just have to behave differently than Israel did. So, I can’t help but wonder how well we stack up.
Paul gives a series of examples of the Israelites’ failings. First, he mentions sexual immorality as “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” This is taken from Exodus 32, where the Israelites not only build and worship a golden calf, but also apparently engage in some ritual sexual behavior. Though I can’t be absolutely certain, I haven’t seen anyone engage in building false idols and having wild parties around them. I suspect we actually might have this one under control.
Paul’s second example refers to those who put God to the text and were killed by serpents. This comes from Numbers 21. The Israelites were doing just fine trusting God until they were faced with food and water insecurity. They got angry, and God punished them by sending either venomous snakes or fiery serpent-like angels to destroy them. The Hebrew isn’t really clear about what these things were. Either way, the Israelites eventually repent for their outcry and seek to make amends. God instructs Moses to raise a pillar with a golden serpent on it, so that when anyone is bitten, then can turn and look at the snake and be healed. This is a strange story in many ways, but the beginning of it seems odd. Did God really need to send deadly serpents to punish them for being upset about a lack of water? I know I get pretty cranky when I’m thirsty or when water isn’t readily available. I know I’m also not a big fan of being bitten by venomous snakes. I can really sympathize with the Israelites here. Again, I can’t speak for everyone, but for my part, I think I probably would have had the same trouble the Israelites did here. Complaining about water insecurity in the desert doesn’t seem so unreasonable to me.
Paul’s third example specifically names complaining as the problem, but I couldn’t find exactly what he was referencing with regard to them being “destroyed by the destroyer.” However, I can say that complaining is pretty common. People complain all the time. I complain. I would certainly hate to be destroyed by the destroyer for that. It feels like Paul’s, and by extension God’s, expectations are really high. Sure, maybe we can get through life without throwing wild parties around golden idols, but are we really expected to get through without complaining or getting upset or worried when things aren’t going the way we think they should?
When Paul says that God won’t test us beyond our strength, does that mean we can’t complain, lament, or be upset lest we fail the test? I can’t help but get the feeling that Paul is asking our endurance to be unwavering joy, constant trust, unblemished faith. But then again, that can’t be it. I don’t even think Paul would agree with that. So what exactly is Paul asking for here? What is the endurance that Paul is expecting?
Between the adulterous idolatry, putting the Lord to the test, and complaining, there is one common theme running in all the examples of the Israelites that Paul cites. When the people were complaining against God in the wilderness, they weren’t simply frustrated. They were so upset that they didn’t think God was able to continue caring for them. They regretted leaving Egypt with their gods. They asked for new gods to be made for them. It wasn’t simply the presence of complaining that God took offense at; it was the lack of trust.
In reality, there is a healthy history of lament Psalms and righteous complaining throughout the Old Testament. The people of Israel and Judah found times and ways to express fear and frustration without abandoning their hope and trust in God. And this doesn’t even require a happy ending at the end of a lament or complaint. Not every Psalm ends with a joyful expression of hope. Sometimes they remain in sadness and despair. Psalm 88 is an excellent example of this.
The point isn’t that the person lamenting becomes cheery by the end. The point is that they direct their prayers to God, so that God can hold them in their suffering. They may be miserable. They may not be able to see the way out, the way forward, the way to escape the mess they are in, but they trust God nonetheless. They have faith at least that God will hear their prayer, even if things don’t get better right away, or at all.
Paul is not opposed to lament. In fact, Paul encourages Christians to “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). To feel the agony of suffering in a sinful world, the shame of guilt for our own sins, and the pain of feeling abandoned and forsaken, is not necessarily wrong. Paul’s encouragement is to continue trusting that in our joys and sorrows, God is with us. Even when we feel completely abandoned even by God, faith tells us that God is with us still, present in absence.
We can weep. We can complain. We can say that things just aren’t fair. We can come to God expressing our despair, our feelings of forsakenness. The reality of Christian endurance doesn’t look like perpetual joy and optimism. Sometimes, endurance looks like a broken person at the end of their rope, screaming into the wind that God has left them to suffer alone, but even in that despair hoping that the wind will carry that word to God as a sacred prayer.
