God Won't Give You More Than You Can Handle???
I know I typically reserve this blog for music things, but today, I am going to explore the common Christian catch phrase, "God won't give you more than you can handle." This is a phrase I hear over and over again, and every time I hear it, it makes me cringe. First, this is not a Biblical thought in any way, shape or form. Many people think it is scriptural because they are thinking of I Corinthians 10:13 which says:
"“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
This verse tells us that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can handle. It says nothing about God not giving us other things we can't handle...and here's the proof!
As indicated in Paul's writing (2 Cor), Paul and his buddies were crushed and overwhelmed far BEYOND their ability to endure. But, and here's the awesome part...when they stopped trying to solve their problems on their own, and when they finally relied on God...He rescued them.
We need to learn this lesson. It's sorta important.
It's so easy to get caught up in thinking that we are somehow protected by God from "too much" suffering. In fact, that's a dangerous false teaching. God sometimes uses our trials and sufferings to either teach us something, or to get our attention.
Many of you know my story and know that I've been through a lot of trials in my life. Yes, it was easy, at times, to think I was abandoned by God. But doesn't Hebrews 13:5-6 tell us that He will never leave or forsake us? (Yes, it does...look it up).
It's so typical of us silly humans to react to our troubles by trying to do "fix" them with our own "power." Oops. Epic Fail. For me, the trials only got harder and harder until I realized that God gave more than I can handle...ON MY OWN! See what I did there?
Until we face our troubles and realize they are too big for US to handle, and start to trust that God is using these troubles to either teach us a lesson, get our attention, or redirect us, we will continue to struggle...and sometimes, these troubles He allows us to deal with are a WHOLE lot more than we can handle, in spite of what all of the "good-intentioned" people in our lives will try to convince us of otherwise.
That's the point of this here little blog. We can't do this on our own. I can't do this on my own. You can't do this on your own. We are too proud to admit this many times, and that's just...well...silly.
That is all.
Gregg
