Does God Give You More Than You Can Handle?
How many
of you have heard this phrase over the years, “God won’t give you more than you can
handle.” This gets tossed around a lot. So, I
thought it was time to take a look at the validity of this statement.
Many people use
this line to try encouraging a friend or family member whenever they are going
through difficult times. And while it’s important
that we do everything we can to build up and encourage people who are
experiencing trials and adversity, we need to make sure that what we are encouraging
them with is the truth.
While this
phrase sounds very positive and supportive, you will not find “God won’t give
you more than you can handle” anywhere within the pages of the Bible. It simply doesn’t exist.
What you will
find is the verse that is many times misquoted.
In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we are told that, “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.”
It’s very
important to understand that God does not
tempt anyone. “Let no one say when he is
tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and
he himself tempts no one.” (James 1:13)
While God does
not tempt us, He does, in His sovereignty, permit us to
be tempted. This is to grow us in
holiness. When Paul writes that God will
not tempt us beyond our ability, he means that we are never in a situation
where we have no other choice, but to sin. For example, in a situation where telling the
truth will damage your reputation, it’s much easier to give in to the
temptation to protect how people see you and lie, rather than do the right
thing, which is tell the truth. That’s
why there’s no such thing as a “white lie”—one that you tell to protect the
feelings of someone else. We never lie
to make someone else feel better, only to avoid discomfort ourselves. It’s just easier to lie and not deal with the
consequences of telling the truth.
Rarely does easy equal right. We always have the
option of doing the right thing, that which honors God, but it will often cost
us; whether that cost is reputation, position, relationship, or money, there
will be a cost. But it is always worth doing the right thing. So, it is true that God will not allow us to
be tempted beyond our ability to do what is right, He will almost always give
us more than we can handle on our own.
Over and over
again in the Bible, we see men and women who are given far more than they can
handle. The prophet Jeremiah is a great
example. He was charged with preaching
repentance to the people of Israel, a calling that caused him to be beaten,
plotted against, and rejected by everyone, even his own family. Emotionally, that was far more than he could
handle, as we see in his many expressions of grief.
The ministry of
the Apostle Paul is probably one of the most powerful examples
of this truth found in Scripture. In
2 Cor. 11:21-30, he tells us the following, “To my shame I admit that we were
too weak for that! Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a
fool—I also dare to boast about. Are they Hebrews? So am I.
Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. Are
they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I
have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more
severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five
times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three
times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was
shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, and I have
been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from
bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in
the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false
believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone
without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food;
I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face
daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is
weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? If
I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”
Paul doesn’t
tell us these things to boast in how he took all this suffering and
adversity like a man, but he does it so that we might know that God will always
give us more than we can handle. He “boasts
of the things that show my weakness” (vs. 30) because those things show his (and
our) dependency on the power and mercy of God.
Earlier in this
letter to the Corinthian church, Paul exhorts his readers with the following:
“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships
we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond
our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of
death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who
raises the dead.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9)
What he wanted
them to know is that they were so afflicted that they thought they were going
to die! They were burdened beyond their
ability, and they could not handle it. But God gave them this adversity and burden
so that they would rely on Him who is able! God is making it clear that we are not
self-sufficient. We cannot just push our way through every situation. And we cannot force our way to holiness. We need Him!
In 2010, a new
chapter in the journey of my life began.
Within one year, I lost both legs, endured twelve separate surgeries,
and struggled through four major infections.
It took an additional year before everything healed sufficiently to be
fitted with prosthetic legs. I have no doubt
I could not have survived this on my own, both emotionally and physically, without
the power and presence of God in my life. It was truly more than I could handle!
So, maybe we
need to stop seeing the trials and dangers in our lives as a burden, or as an
indication that God may not love us. Maybe we need to start seeing them as proof
that God loves us too much to let
us try to rely on our own strength, but continues to show us our need to rely
on Him to endure suffering and persevere until the end.
I would like to
close with one last word of encouragement:
“Therefore we
do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are
being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving
for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on
what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is
unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
Can God
change your life?
God has
made it possible for you to know Him, and experience an amazing
change in your own life.
Discover
how you can find peace with God.
