"God never gives us more than we can handle."
This phrase is often used to comfort someone in their time of need. I've been guilty of using it myself. But, after a conversation with my sister-in-law this past weekend, I got me thinking, is this actually true?
The more I thought about it and read about it, I've come to the conclusion that this phrase is, without a doubt, false. Here's why.
Jon Bloom, an author for Desiring God Ministries, actually wrote a blog post on this earlier this year. He used the story, found in Judges 7, of Gideon. God told Gideon that he was going to fight an army of 100,000 men with an army of 300. Gideon can handle that, right? By the phrase's definition, this should be a piece of cake for Gideon thus, he feared nothing. On the contrary.
As any of us would (whether we would like to admit it or not), Gideon freaked out. Basically that's 333 of the enemy to 1 of Gideon's men.
But, as we read on, God assures Gideon that this will work out. He reminded Gideon of the Red Sea and the wall of Jericho. It helped some, but later that night is Gideon was planning out the battle, he had his doubts, again. It seemed impossible, in fact, you might say, he couldn't handle it.
But, once again, God came to him. He assured Gideon, that his hands would be strengthened.
As it happened, God was right. Read the chapter to find out how. It's pretty cool. :)
In this story we see that Gideon could not have done this on his own. It was, literally, humanly impossible for the battle to be won. But, with God's mighty hand and power, it worked out.
Friends, this story shows us that God absolutely does gives us more than we can handle.
Parents are never prepared to lose a child. Children are never prepared to learn a parent has cancer. Couples are never prepared to find out they will never have children. A husband is never prepared to find he lost his job.
Even as believers, we can not handle any of this on our own. We are never prepared to handle anything that seems to mess with our lives.
But, God is. After all, in His sovereignty, He has ordained it to happen.
This is why, with His help, we can get through anything. When we place our unwavering trust in His all-powerful sovereignty, we can fight the battle. Romans 8:28 tells us all things will work out for the believers good.
There may be questions that go unanswered. Some doubts may creep back in, but Romans 8:31 tells us that "if God if for us, then who can be against us?" As one of my favorite hymns says, "when the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet." (This is My Father's World)
In the end, we come out victorious. We come out stronger. We come out relying on God more because only with His help, can we can get through it.
Finally, friend, remember this: God sent His only Son to die on the cross for ALL of our sins. If He can do this, He most surely can get you through anything you go through.
(Link for Jon Bloom's post)
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/why-god-gives-us-more-than-we-can-handle
