When God Gives You More than You Can Handle
If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you have likely heard the expression, “God will never give you more than you can handle.”
I’m sure you’ve heard someone say it. Perhaps, you’ve even said it yourself.
But it’s one of those sayings that we would do well to just stop saying. Why? There are many reasons: It’s cliché. It’s insensitive. It’s over-used. It’s trite. But mainly because it’s just not true.
You know more than a few God-fearing, Christ-following, Bible-believing folks who by most any objective measure have been given more than most anyone should be reasonably allowed to handle.
People who’ve grieved more. People who’ve spent more time in the hospital. People who’ve lost more. People who’ve buried more. People who’ve paid a higher price. People who’ve carried more. People who never seem to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Good people to whom bad things happen. Sometimes, often.
When we ponder that, it can be troubling. Especially, if you’ve been one of those people dealt hand after hand of devastating cards in the game of life. And if you have, then you understand, likely more than most, how a statement like, “God will never give you more than you can handle” may make you question everything about yourself, your strength, and perhaps even to question everything about God.
Paul was no stranger to suffering. Read about his experience: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death…” . (2 Corinthians 1.8+)
It got bad for Paul. Real bad. Yet, Paul was not a bad guy. He was righteous. He was passionate. He loved Jesus. He loved the church of Jesus. And he was doing mission work.
He and his fellow mission team experienced great pain, suffering, and pressure. Paul describes it as “far beyond our ability to endure so that we despaired of life itself.” In other words, God gave Paul more than He could handle.
Why was God allowing such misery? It’s an important question.
Thankfully, Paul answers that very question: “…but this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.”
Despite what you’ve heard to the contrary, sometimes God will give you more than you can handle.
The problem with the saying “God will not give you more than you can handle” is that it puts the emphasis on you. God may absolutely give you more than YOU can handle, but He will never give you more than HE can handle. So, when YOU get more than YOU can handle, it’s best to let HIM handle it!