So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. (1Corinthians 10: 12-13)

When I think of those hungry and homeless in Darfur, or caught in the cross-fire of Iraq, or struggling with a fatal disease I wonder about Paul's assurances. My own tests have mostly involved overcoming a personal weakness. In these Paul has certainly been correct.

But when a strong external adversary is involved is it still a test? Is there always a way out? Or should we differentiate between the tests of a loving God and the trials of an evil world?

Viktor Frankl was a Jewish pscyhologist imprisoned by the Nazis. He saw many of his concentration camp colleagues gased and even more die of hunger, fatigue, disease, and hopelessnesss.

Frankl perceived that among survivors there was a keen and abiding search for meaning. As long as the search continued they were able to endure. If they gave up the search, death soon followed.

Frankl wrote, ""It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life - daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."

Above is Satan tempting Jesus by Duccio di Buoninsega.