More Than We Can Handle

Often, we hear the well-meaning but unbiblical phrase, “God won’t give you more than you can handle” as an adage or encouragement to those muddling through a tough time. It is so. Untrue. (The oft-misquoted verse here is 1 Corinthians 10:13 which states God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can handle.)

When writing to the Corinthians, Paul expressed the dire state he and his companions were in when they traveled through 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. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9). Without the strength and power of God, Paul is convinced they would not have made it. Their circumstances were more than they could handle.

As I read through the account of Holy Week I saw it again. But this time, I was struck by who was proclaiming He could not handle the situation on His own. Jesus, in His humanity, bore the sins of the world. In the garden He prayed that if it was possible, God would take the intense suffering and impending sentence of death away. But He succumbed to the will of the Father, relying solely on the strength of God. The next few days would be more than He could handle.

We live in a broken world filled with grief and suffering. There will be challenges and circumstances, whether by our own doing or not, that we will not be able to successfully handle apart from calling on the name of the Lord. Paul continues, “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 (2 Corinthians 1:10). We cannot rely on our own strength. Left to our own devices, God will often give us more than we can handle.

As we ready our hearts for the jubilant celebration of Resurrection Day, my prayer for each of us is that we will remember and rejoice in the assurance Paul reminds us of in Ephesians, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 1:18-20).

These are especially great thoughts on the days God gives us more than we can handle.