Too much to handle??? GOOD!

I think it's interesting how people take "pieces" of Scripture or ideas about God and turn then into "fact".  I'm not saying this is always a terrible thing, for I believe that all of us--believers or not--want to think that we know.  Example: I hear often from people that "money is the root of all evil"...uh, no! The LOVE of money is the root of all KINDS of evil...a misquote but it makes a huge difference.

Another even I have fallen victim to is, "God will never give you more than you can handle". I had bought into this concept early on and even suggested it to many folks along the way.  I recall shortly after my Pop died, someone I love called to report that another member of our family had had a reoccurrence with cancer (if I recall correctly).  I do remember saying, "God must know how strong you are or else He would not have allowed this to happen", or something like that. Good idea...perhaps not quite so.

What scripture does say is that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear AND that He provides a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13).  Temptation is a lot different than a trial. How and why some people turned that into "God won't give you more than you can handle" is pretty easy to see though.

I began to shy away from this concept a while ago and had it confirmed yesterday in church.  The sermon was about "Hope"--where we place our hope, objects of hope, etc. The pastor encouraged us as believers not to have "I hope so"s but "I know so"s, our hope being solid and unwavering as we "go with what we know" about God, trials, etc. ("Go with what you know" added by me!)

He pointed out a passage of scripture I've read a bajillion times but finally saw in a different light.

2 Corinthians 1 (Paul writing)

⁸ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,^[a] 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. ⁹ Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On Him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us..."

 

Did you catch that? Paul admits that he and the other followers were under pressure too much for them to handle, even to the point that they despaired their own lives! They felt as if they'd received a death sentence!? Good grief!  But but BUT...Paul recognized WHY...SO THAT they would rely on God...SO THAT he could trust that He would deliver them AGAIN...SO THAT their hope would be set on HIM.

I wanted to jump out of my seat when I heard this. I mean, I KNOW it, but I felt like going and finding everyone I'd told, "God will never give you more than you can handle" and saying instead, "Yes! God WILL sometimes give you more than you can handle SO THAT you rely on HIM to deliver you".  How cool is that though?  I picture God in the picture above just piling it on some people, saying, "You think you can still handle all this? Are you going to ask Me to help you? Are you trying to still do this on your own? I WANT to help you, goofy!  Here's more...here's another...Ready to ask for my help yet? Let me prove that I love you and that I can deliver you from this..."

As I pondered all this yesterday, I tried to recall a time that I "despaired life itself" because I was so overwhelmed with a trial or hardship, a time when I just threw up my hands and said, "I can't!!!"  I'm sure there have been times...but recently I couldn't think of one.  And I think it's because when the pressure builds, when my endurance begins to be tested, when I begin to get too deep, I do rely on the Lord.  My hope IS set on him, anchored and sure.  Granted, I write this with a huge amount of humility, knowing full well that the Lord is reading every word and might challenge my so-called strength ("Oh yeah, Jen? You're writing to the blog readers about how you can't recall the last time you felt despair? GET READY!")  Perhaps it's just a practice I've learned over the years as I learn more about who God is...

One of the closest things I can relate to the build up of pressure and what I can handle is work stuff, especially around event season but it can also be on a regular day.  Many years ago, I found myself recognizing I was getting "# deep" at work.  Example: I'm working on a report that is due by the end of the day. I get a phone call for something else that needs my immediate attention. As I'm working on that, I get an email from a disgruntled donor saying that they are no longer willing to support us due to "thus and such". At the same moment I'm forwarding the email to the appropriate people and asking what we should do, a staff member walks into the office asking for the statistics they need for a grant that they need to get into the mail by the end of the day. As I'm searching my computer for the stats, I get a text from my supervisor requesting the confirmation of a meeting date by the end of the day for myself and 3 other people I now need to track down to see if they are available.  At that point, I'm "5 deep" in task and need to climb my way back up...Thankfully, I know these things happen and as things start to pile like that I have my own strategies to deal with it (laughter, sticky notes, and usually a big "BRING IT!" from me to the Lord). Now, I'm not always my best self in these situations...I sometimes get the stress headache in the back of my head (hot head, I call it), my stomach blows up like a balloon (IBS stress related), and I can be a bit prickly the further deep I get...BUT but but....there's always a lesson in it, a purpose, a "this is not forever--just for now" affirmation that this too shall pass. So I go with what I know...ride it out...feel that anchor of hope under my feet.

God never gives us more than we can handle? I believe He does...so we can grow, so we can be refined, and so we can put (and keep!) our hope in Him alone. And I'm looking forward to sharing this with others (you all being first!)  Pass it on...