If you have ever gone through some trial, or suffered
any form of loss, no doubt you have had some loving, sincere, saint of God put
their arms around you and utter the words, “God never puts more on us than we
can handle.” You may have even done it to someone else. The problem is that it
is not scriptural. Not only is the phrase not found in scripture, but the
concept is completely foreign to the Christian Life. We are called to be
cross-bearers (matt 16:24) and we are called to suffer (Phil 3). In II Corinthians
1:8 Paul declares His own distress. “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.” Paul was very clear that His suffering was well beyond His ability to
handle it. In I Kings 19:7 the angel of
God came to Elijah with a message that the journey He was preparing to take was
too hard for him. These are just examples of God’s people finding themselves
over their heads in distress. The idea that God will never place more on us
than we can handle comes from a misunderstanding of I Corinthians 10:13 where
we are told that no temptation will come
upon us, from which we cannot escape. He is referring to temptation not
troubles and trials.
We do need to acknowledge that much of our distress in
this world is the direct result of our sin. David said in psalm 38:4 “My guilt
has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.” Later in verse 8 He says, “I am feeble and
utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.” God can and under certain
circumstances does relieve us of the consequences of our actions but He is
certainly under no obligation to do so. God has set in motion some natural laws
which He by his own choice does not intervene. Scripture refers to it as the
law of sowing and reaping.
Many times when we are seeking to serve God the most,
we find ourselves under the attack of the enemy, Satan. There are times when
God allows this to happen so that He can position us to better do His will. In
the early chapters of the book of Acts we find the Christian Church under
persecution which was so bad that they left Jerusalem and were scattered. As
they fled for their lives they carried their faith with them and because of
their persecution the Gospel spread over the known world. While Paul was in
prison he wrote, “Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has
happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has
become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am
in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and
sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the
gospel without fear.” (Phil 1:12-14)
Much of our trials and tribulations are allowed in our
lives to be a reminder of our need for God and to display His power. The idea
that God never allows us to go through things that we cannot handle is not only
false but we could make the case that the exact opposite is true. God delights
in allowing us to get into impossible situations so that when He intervenes
everyone around will know that it is Him.
The apostle Paul said it best after He had prayed to the Lord to remove
the thorn in His flesh. These are His words, “Concerning this I implored the
Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, "My grace
is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly,
therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ
may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults,
with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for
when I am weak, then I am strong.” (II Corinthians 12:8=10) The thorn in His
flesh existed for only one reason, So that the power of Christ would dwell in
Him.
Probably the most emotionally and spiritually
uplifting reason for the distresses in our lives is simply so the church can be
the community God has called us to be. If God never places more on us than we
can handle, then why would we be admonished to “Bear one another’s burdens.” (Gal
6:2) There are too many scriptures pertaining to the idea of helping one
another and praying for one another to deal within this brief article. The
entire concept of helping ministries, and the social ministries of the church
is to meet needs that an individual cannot meet on their own. If we never faced
anything that we could not handle on our own, we would be completely
self-sufficient in every way which, and that is simply not God’s plan or will
for our lives as believers.
