God will never give you more than you can handle…right?

God will never give you more than you can handle…right?

By Chris Stevenson

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

This is a statement that I’ve heard all through my Christian walk. I’ve heard it when bad times have come and it’s been meant as a reassurance that I’d be OK, that’d I’d come out the other side.

It’s a nice thought, it appeals to a sense of fairness or justice. If you have x capacity, then you can handle this much suffering. If you are already at your limit then no more trials will be sent your way.

The problem I found with this though is that if any struggle I come across is within my power alone to get through…why do I need God? So, what does the bible say about it?

The best I can find is 1 Corinthians 10:13 which reads;

NO TEMPTATION HAS OVERTAKEN YOU THAT IS NOT COMMON TO MAN. GOD IS FAITHFUL, AND HE WILL NOT LET YOU BE TEMPTED BEYOND YOUR ABILITY, BUT WITH THE TEMPTATION HE WILL ALSO PROVIDE THE WAY OF ESCAPE, THAT YOU MAY BE ABLE TO ENDURE IT. (ESV)

So, we are talking about being tempted (sometimes translated as ‘being tested’). This isn’t referring to handling tough times, this is talking about Holiness. It is talking about how in any situation there will always be an option to take that doesn’t lead us into sin. An article I read by Aaron Armstrong uses this example. “In a situation where telling the truth will damage your reputation, for example, 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.”

The truth is that God will and does give us ‘more than we can handle’ so that we learn and understand that we need God’s love, power, blessing, help more than we need our own.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:10 SAYS;

BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD I AM WHAT I AM, AND HIS GRACE TOWARD ME WAS NOT IN VAIN. ON THE CONTRARY, I WORKED HARDER THAN ANY OF THEM, THOUGH IT WAS NOT I, BUT THE GRACE OF GOD THAT IS WITH ME.

Or if I get through any test, if I survive any struggle it is because God was with me, because I was dependent on God’s grace, not because I relied on my own abilities.

Right now, in the midst of COVID-19 all of us are going through something.  Some of us have had to close the doors to our business.  Some of us have lost our jobs.  Some of us are dealing with stress and anxiety, and the sense of intense fear.

So no matter what it is you are going through, just remember that you don’t have to do it alone. You don’t have to internalise it all and figure it out yourself.  No, instead we are created to rely on our God. To let him be the source of our strength so that it is through Him that we can ‘handle’ anything.