More Than You Can Handle

God will never give you more than you can handle.

Have you heard this saying before? I believe this saying derives from this verse:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

I think the verse is clear that when we find ourselves in situations in which we are tempted to sin, God will provide a way out.

However, I think oftentimes, this ‘God will never give you more than you can handle’ saying gets thrown around as a sort of coverall for any and all situations. This saying has not become limited to only apply to situations of temptation (and I think the verse is clear that the context is temptation). But rather, it gets applied to everything….even trials, emotional pain, hardships, and suffering. And, I think in this regard, it has become a poor misinterpretation of scripture.

To say that God is always going to have us in situations that we ourselves can ‘handle’ is to me, not biblical. I am going through the Psalms right now, and the cries of distress that come in the Psalmists words illustrate desperate, unbearable adversity. For example Psalm 69 was written by King David. He says this of his situation:

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God…..

If left to himself and his own ability to handle this one, it doesn’t sound as if David is likely to make it.

Then I think of Jesus’ own words, which have played over and over in my mind the past few months:

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Mark 8:34)

Do we understand that taking up our cross means we are ready to identify with and follow Jesus who carried his own cross to his undeserved crucifixion and death? Crucifixion. Death. Suffering. Discomfort. Unsafe situations. No easy way out. Hardship. What if we shouted up to Jesus while he was dying on the cross, “Don’t worry Jesus! God will never give you more than you can handle!” It sounds so foolish to even think that. So then why do we feed that line to each other?

The way I see it from examples in scripture, God is going to dish out situations to His followers that are completely beyond their own ability to handle. He does this NOT because He wants us to look inward and muster up some extra strength, and understanding, and wisdom to as the saying implies ‘handle the situation ourselves’. How will we ever learn that God is truly our Refuge (Psalm 91:2 ), Strength (Psalm 46:1), Shelter (Isaiah 25:4), and Trust (Psalm 40:4) if we are never in situations when we have to completely rely on Him to get through?

I think of my friends’ sister in the medical profession who was serving at a clinic in Africa and accidently contracted the HIV virus.

I think of a couple from my church who a few months ago held a funeral for their newborn baby boy who died less than a few hours into his life.

I think of the numerous couples in our Ghana adoption program who found out last week that the children they were set to adopt were taken back to their villages and were no longer available for adoption.

I think of our Pastor’s wife who offered forgiveness to the man who raped her while she was running on a park trail in high school.

As Christ-followers, we must be prepared to face situations that we are completely inadequate to handle. We are not exempt from extreme pain, suffering, tragedies, and impossibilities that will completely rock our world beyond what we can bear. God doesn’t promise us an easy, trouble-free life this side of heaven. But He does tell us that He will protect us and be with us in difficulties (Isaiah 43:2-5), and that in ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). Through our suffering and trials we will learn that WE CAN’T HANDLE our burdens. But there is someone who can. And His presence in our life is the only refuge in which we can trust.

2 Corinthians 12:9-11
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.