More Than We Can Handle

“God will never give you more than you can handle.” 

I have had many well-meaning Christians tell me these words over the last 18 months when I’ve been depressed about what’s happening in life at the moment, particularly with my call to the Northwest.  The unfortunate thing is that these words don’t appear in the Bible at all, and in fact, nothing like that is ever said in the Bible.  Jesus didn’t say it, it doesn’t appear in the 10 commandments, it isn’t in a Psalm of David, nor is it a proverb of Solomon.  Many people think the Bible says this because they misquote 1 Corinthians, in which Paul is writing about temptation.

1 Corinthians 10:13 New Living Translation (NLT)

¹³ The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Thank God that He places limits on the intensity of our temptations.

Now back to difficulties in life.  Personal experience has shown me that, besides the Bible never saying anywhere that we "won't be given more than we can handle," these words are simply not true.  Yes, you did read that right.  God will give you more than you can handle.  A lot more.

Why would He do that? Let me illustrate it personally first.

I have had many, many days here in the Pacific Northwest that gave me more than I could handle.  Let's run down my list of burdens that are too heavy for me to carry.

1. Our move to the Northwest-  It is no small thing to move away from everyone you know and all of the comforts you had because you felt the Lord calling you away.  At time, the isolation and loneliness have been intense.
2. Family- I often joke about having 5 boys and how crazy our house is, but make no mistake, they by themselves are a tremendous burden.  As a parent you have to be "on" all of the time and ready to parent at any moment.  I don't always feel like doing that.
3. Ministry- Starting a new church while working a regular full time job is difficult and takes all of your time.  How do you balance ministry and family, work and relationships?  I ask that question constantly.
4. Work- Often, work by itself will give me more than I could handle.  Whether it's a major problem that has to be dealt with or broken relationships that need to be fixed, all of these things are a burden. 

Frequently, these things combine into a perfect storm of circumstances, and my reaction in many cases to the perfect storm is to become angry.  I will sometimes become angry at God and have difficulty praying.  Other times I’ll just desire to be alone and away from anyone and everyone.  And still other times I may try to connect with someone who “gets it” so they can hear me out.  I do this because in my mind, God doesn’t get it.  In those moments, I am so very wrong.

The Power of Fog

We live in a world that is completely broken on every level, with more needs than any of us could ever meet and with greater powers of evil present than we could ever comprehend.  We are unable to change any of this on our own, and thank God for that.  God wants the world to come into relationship with Himself, and the most effective way for that to happen is for circumstances to point to Him and not to you.  We are weak.  He is strong.

God gives us more than we can handle because what He really wants is all of you, not just the portion you choose to throw His way on Sunday mornings or when you do your quiet time or when you do an act of service in His kingdom.  He sees that we are a vapor, a mist, a passing fog on this earth.  Consider the last time you saw fog drifting through an area.  It didn't possess any real power on its own.  It simply drifted through and eventually burned away due to the sun's heat.  You and I contain all of the raw power that the vapor, mist, or fog contains on the earth.  We can’t do it on our own, and we are not meant to.

Matthew 11
²⁸ Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

The thing that took me so long to understand is that He doesn't lift my burdens off of my shoulders automatically.  I have to try to lift them, experience that it is too much, and go to Him for help and in submission.  Then, and only then, will His broad shoulders lift the yoke off of my shoulders.  And like oxen or horses that are pulling a load, when I am "yoked together" with the Savior, I am walking with Him.

I am convinced that what God wants is our absolute surrender to His will.  He’s very clear in Revelation that He doesn’t want our spiritual leftovers left covered in the fridge.   

^{Revelation 3 
15} “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! ¹⁶ But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!

He wants the first part of the meal that we cook, and over time you will discover that He wants it all:  all of your worship, all of your praise, all of you.   This isn’t done out of meanness or spite.  It is done because He loves us with such an intensity that we could never imagine it.  He also sees through the things we have deceived ourselves with, including our feelings of power and ability.  He made us and realizes that we are quite weak.  The only way to make it is to fully surrender and let him take it all.

The Patience of the Lord

Many Christians out there don’t want that much of God.  They want to compartmentalize Him into a specific part of their day, week, or month and have the rest to themselves.  It’s almost like tithing.  They are sort of okay with giving 10% (and might argue about gross or net pay in that), but the other 90% is theirs to spend at will.  In my worst moments, I still wrestle with thoughts like that.  How dare God want all of me?  Doesn’t He see this is MY life?

Thankfully God doesn’t give up on people like you and me.  We are actually fortunate that we are pursued by this Holy God.  If we are actually followers of His, He will pursue us with the same intensity that He pursued Jonah.  He will place massive storms in our way, and when we turn around we will see massive waves the other direction.  When we run 100 miles into the wilderness out of fear and exhaustion, like Elijah did, God is right there at our destination, waiting on us.  When we tell God that we can't do what He's asked us to do, He just comes back and tells us again like He did when Moses told Him no.

Hosea 14

14 ^[a]Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
    for your sins have brought you down.
² Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord.
    Say to him,
“Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us,
    so that we may offer you our praises.^[b]
3 Assyria cannot save us,
    nor can our warhorses.
Never again will we say to the idols we have made,
    ‘You are our gods.’
No, in you alone
    do the orphans find mercy.”

My experience?  God will give you more than you can handle.  That’s important when it comes to a person like me who is driven, passionate, and focused.  As long as I believe I can do anything I put my mind to, He is still going to have to work on me.  That’s why we adopted 3 kids that come from a difficult place and who are difficult themselves.  That’s why God asked us to move to the Seattle area where we knew nobody and had no plan.  That’s why we are planting Purpose Church without a lot of help.  It’s because we can’t do it and because He can do it.  If we succeed, it was His doing, not my great strategy, planning, or charisma, that did it.

What does this have to do with you?  Are you overwhelmed by life right now and feeling boxed in?  Are you angry with God and seeking respite or a place go cry by yourself?  Do you feel unbelievable pressure each day and have no way to deal with it?  Go to the Father in prayer.  Just get on your knees before Him and wait on Him to speak.  Get away from people and spend some time with your Creator.  Surrender every part of your self to Him, and see what He does in response.

Your problems may not all magically resolve themselves, your pressure may not disappear, and your kids may not begin to act correctly, but what you may have is the strength to get through that day or that hour.  And in the midst of the trial you will likely display the grace that could only come as a reflection of the Father you follow, and that makes Him known to people around you.  And when you look back, it wasn’t that you were running a race and crossed the finish line.  It wasn’t that you ran a marathon and finished, or completed an Ironman Triathalon.  You will realize that you were carried through the entirety of the trial.