These are David's inspired words in Psalm 103:14.
God realizes there is nothing immortal or eternally powerful about man. He is a mere creation of dust! Man is frail, transient in existence and inconsistent in conduct. The Creator understands this! He does not demand more then we can give. In fact, God has not dealt with us according to our sins or given us what we really deserve (verse 10) —or we would all have long ago ceased living!
All human beings have sinned, and the wages of sin is death! (Rom. 3:23; 6:23.) God has endured human hypocrisy, lying and just plain disobedience for centuries and millennia and could justifiably have obliterated all humanity long ago. But He hasn't! "But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. For he remembered that
THEY WERE BUT FLESH . . ." (Psalm 78:38-39). God is totally fair and just in His dealings with mankind. Those who suggest otherwise simply do not know God!
It is not the Creator who is unjust. It is man who is inequitable! Any who point the accusing finger at God have several more pointing back at themselves ! Notice the inspired words of the Prophet Ezekiel! "...You say: The Lord isn't being fair! Listen to Me ... Am I the One who is unfair, or is it you?" (Ezek. 18:25, Living Psalms version.)
Human Rights
God's understanding is vast and unsearchable (Isaiah 40:28). He deals with mankind only with the greatest compassion and restraint. Every human life is important in God's estimation, and it is not His will that any should ultimately perish! (Matt. 10:29-31; II Peter 3:9.) The Eternal God is daily working out a great purpose here below.
Whatever God allows us to experience in this life will work for Our good in the final analysis, even though it may be difficult to comprehend this now! (Rom. 8:28.) Once God has begun a purpose in an individual human life, we can be sure He will see it through to completion — even if it takes until the return of Christ to do so! (Philippians 1:6.) We can be confident of this!
Once God has begun to work with you, He will not allow you to be tested beyond your capacity! He will only allow you to undergo those trials and tests you could pass if you really wanted to! "There hath no temptation [to put to proof by experience or adversity] taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer [allow] you to be tempted [tested] above that ye are able .. ." (I Cor. 10:13).
Power to Spare
All the great men and women of the Bible underwent severe and intense periods of testing! Abraham was even asked to sacrifice his only son when he was over 100 years old! But he was not required to go through such a severe and emotionally turbulent test until he was fully ready for it! And he was ready! He passed the test with flying colors! Read about it for yourself in Genesis 22!
Even though, humanly, we may feel totally inadequate to be tested in an intense way, we must realize that God can also provide us with the necessary strength to go through with it! But we must actively seek such power by fervent, prevailing prayer! If we do so, earnestly and expectantly, we will receive additional strength and power. Notice God's promise in Isaiah 40:29, 31 {Living Psalms) : "He gives power to the tired and worn out, and strength to the weak. . . . They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." That is
a promise of God! Will you claim it?
It ought to be evident then, that God is eminently fair and understanding in His dealings with mankind! He understands human frailty and weakness. He only allows us to be tested within the limits of our capacity. And if we are lacking in the strength to undergo periods of trial or testing, God is willing to provide us with the necessary power to handle it! There could be no greater justice and equity!
But how is God able to be so understanding? How is He able to comprehend the depth of human frailty and feebleness in the face of trials, tests and the ravages of evil human nature ? How does He know what it is like to be human, with all the limitations that imposes ?
Personal Experience
God is a family of spirit beings. God the Father and God the Son and The Holy Spirit which is the power, the life, and the mind of God. The family name is "God." Members of the God Family jointly planned the creation of the human race. The Father was the overall Director. But the One who later became known as Jesus Christ executed the actual creation of the material universe and man. He was then called the "Word of God," meaning the Spokesman of the Divine Family (John 1:1-3; Genesis 15:1; Ephesians 3:9). He was the "Rock" that led and followed the children of Israel in the wilderness (I Cor. 10:4).
This One actually worked personally with all the great men of the Old Testament whom God was training for positions of leadership in tomorrow's world! He actually walked and talked with men like Adam and Enoch (Gen. 3:8; 5:22). He dealt personally with Abraham, who was known as the "friend of God" (Gen. 17:1; James 2:23). Abraham is destined to become the heir of the whole world under Jesus Christ! (Rom. 4:13.) Notice how close God was to Moses: "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. . ." (Ex. 33:11). God appeared to Joshua and was with him in the same way He had been with Joshua's predecessor, Moses (Joshua 1:5,15-18). The Spokesman spoke to Job and taught him about the Creation and the workings of the universe under His direction (Job 38 and 39). Jacob actually wrestled and mingled his perspiration with the One who later became the Messiah! (Gen. 32:24-30.)
Countless others were known personally by Jesus. He observed them, taught them, fought for them, worked miracles for them, forgave and comforted them over a period of almost four thousand years!
This puzzled people of Jesus' day just as it does today. One day the Pharisees were attacking Him and He remarked, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." By the retort the Jews came back with it is easy to tell Jesus was talking about personal acquaintance with Abraham: "Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" Jesus put the record straight once and for all with a classic statement full of the ring of eternal authority: "I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am!" (Above quotes from John 8:56-58.)
And as far as compassion, and its expression for every generation, nothing can beat Jesus' poignant statement so full of personal concern: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" (Matt. 23:37.)
The One who became Jesus Christ of the New Testament watched many great civilizations come and go. He set up kings and put them down. He answered the prayers of the faithful and punished the wicked. The teeming hordes of humanity passed before His eyes as He inspired His prophets to predict the course of human events.
"For God So Loved the World"
That same member of the Divine Family who had worked with so many of the patriarchs of old and led the children of Israel for forty years actually became human! For a period of thirty-three and one-half years He actually walked this earth in human form. Yet He was very God in the flesh! (Psalm 45:6-7; Phil. 2:6; Titus 2:10, 13.) During His human lifetime He successfully resisted the tempting of Satan the devil (Matt. 4:1-11). Jesus was tempted in all the points we can be tempted in today, yet He never once yielded to the pulls of the flesh! ". . . Jesus the Son of God . . . was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:14, 15). He does understand what it is like to be tempted by an angry devil and to resist all the pulls of human nature and the pressures of a sin-filled world! He has experienced all those things! Christ even knows what it is like to be sick, although He never broke the physical laws that normally cause human sickness. Instead He bore in His own body all our sicknesses and infirmities. He was beaten, whipped and punched into a bloody pulp before His cruel crucifixion! He was a chiropractor's nightmare, having many major bones disjointed! The flesh was literally torn from His bones so that they were visible to the eye! His face was marred beyond recognition. (Read it for yourself in Isaiah 53:3-5,7; Psalm 22:1,14,17; Matthew 26:67; 27:30-31 and Isaiah 52:14.)
Make no mistake about it! When Jesus walked the dusty streets of Palestine almost 2000 years ago, He experienced a real taste of what it is like to be human ! And Jesus IS God!
Today Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven. He acts as the one and only mediator between God and man. He functions in the office of high priest — an understanding AND A COMPASSIONATE HIGH priest ! "... We have a great high priest. . . Jesus the Son of God . .. ours is no high priest who cannot have sympathy with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every respect like ourselves . .." (Heb. 4:14-15, Moffatt translation).
God understands human frailty and weakness all right! It was Jesus Himself who said, ". . . The flesh is weak" ! (Matt. 26:41.) He does not expect us to do more than we are able. Whatever God asks of us is within the realm of possibility. God will provide the help we need to endure rigorous trials and testing of this human existence.
God is all for us! He wants each individual He calls to succeed! Those that overcome their human pulls and the influence of an evil, selfish society and the temptings of Satan the devil will be granted positions of rulership in tomorrow's world! (Rev. 2:26; 3:21.)
God has provided man with a great goal and the means to achieve it! In spite of fleshly feebleness and human frailty it is possible to attain the Kingdom of God! What shall we say to these things? "If God be for us [and He is!], who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31.)
Don't be too proud to ask for the help God will give you — if you ask Him. "God is always against the proud, but he is always ready to give grace to the humble. So, humble yourselves under God's strong hand, and in his own good time he will lift you up. You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern"! (I Peter 5:5-7, J. B. Phillips translation.)
God understands you — loves you — wants you to become a member of His Family!
