"God wont give you more than you can handle". We hear it all the time. And here are a couple reactions it provokes, "Yeah, I'm strong, I can get through this" and, "I must be pretty awesome for God to give me harder stuff to deal with than other people." Neither of these are what God is in the business of doing, puffing up our self-sufficient self-esteem. God is in the business of helping us look to Him and depend on Him instead of ourselves. He actually will give us more than we can handle to get us to desperately depend on Him. He is glorified by us depending on Him since He is the All-Sufficient Great I AM, not us. His grace is sufficient, not ours. And besides being utterly false and as far from God's plan for our life, it leads to thinking people who have hard things going on in life have more faith and can "handle more" than those who don't. God doesn't allow hard things to come into our lives to prove how strong we are but rather how sufficient He is. He allows hard things to refine us and reveal Himself as Comforter, Redeemer and a thousand other things. Jesus told us hard times will come to those we perceive as strong and those we perceive as weak, but we can have courage because Jesus has overcome the world. He didn't say, hard things will come only to those who are extra strong. Nope, He was talking to all of us, all who feel strong and all who feel or seem weak. (My good friend Sara just put so clearly into words what it actually does to people who are going through impossibly hard situations to tell them how strong they are because you don't see them crying.) So where did this come from? 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." This sure can seem like it's saying God wont give us more than us and our strong selves can handle right? Well, lets look at it. "you are able" in Greek is the word Dunamai and Dunamis which beautifully is the same word used when talking about the Holy Spirit living through us. It means "to show ability (and power); able (enabled by God), empowered. Power to achieve by applying the Lord's inherent abilities. Power through God's ability." Pretty awesome huh! Basically it is saying God will give us more than we can handle, but not more than He can handle. After all, when we are weak, then He is strong! One other interesting thought I'll throw out is the word tempted is the Greek word Pelrazo which means to test, trial, try and tempt. Exodus 20:20 says, "Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning." God does test us and that testing can come as hard times but Proverbs 27:21 says it can also come in the form of praise, "The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives." When we are tempted, let's turn to the Lord and yield to Him, letting the Holy Spirit enable us to endure. To endure means (Gr. Hupopphero) "to bear by being under". It's the word picture of being carried away by an underwater current. As we yield our own self-sufficiency of being able to get through it by ourselves by being strong, the Holy Spirit will give us the strength the Lord provides and we will be carried along with the strength and ability He provides. This verse is all about the Lord being strong in our weakness, not about us being strong by the power of our own might. Let's desperately depend on the Lord today! About Laura Laura, the creator and host of Missional Women is married and has four kids, two of whom are adopted. Laura and her husband have been missionaries to college students for 11 years serving with Master Plan Ministries. Laura is the Staff Women's Development Coordinator and has discipled over 150 girls, led over 30 Bible studies and speaks to college and women's groups. Laura has authored 5 books, including an award winning 12 week Bible Study on First Samuel, Beholding Him, Becoming Missional, Reach; How to Use Your Social Media Influence for the Glory of God, and A Devotional Journey through Judges, a devotional to accompany the free online Bible study at TheBookofJudges.com. You can find her on facebook,twitter, pinterest, youtube, instagram and her author site. Want to read more from this contributor? Put her name in the search box at the top.
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It is hard for me to step back and fully trust God at times. During the happy, comfortable, easy months of life I don’t seem to have a problem telling God I trust Him and that He can do whatever with my life. But then I hit the bumpy patches and almost without thinking, I feel like I need to do something to make everything better and I forget that God really wants control of my life during the good and the bad days!
This past year has been a tough one. And some days I have hit my bed at night just weighed down with the anxiety and tiredness of living my days trying to do it all myself. I know God is here and that He wants to take care of it all for me, but I think I have it set somewhere in my head that it is up to ME to take care of my family and those around me and that if I don’t do this then things will drastically fall apart. Are you capable of murder? What about adultery or disowning Christ? I imagine most of us think, "NO WAY! Not me!" That's what Peter thought. "And Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away, because it is written, 'I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.' "But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee." But Peter said to Him, "Even though all may fall away, yet I will not." And Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times." But Peter kept saying insistently, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!" And they all were saying the same thing also." Mark 14:27-31 The reality is that our flesh is capable of things beyond our imagination. The reality is that those who think they stand need to take heed lest they fall. (1 Cor. 10:12) Reality is, we are capable of the "I would never's!" Does that scare you? It does me. But a healthy fear. A fear that drives me to desperately depend on Jesus. “The gospel of justifying faith means that while Christians are, in themselves still sinful and sinning, yet in Christ, in God’s sight, they are accepted and righteous. So we can say that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope — at the very same time. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. It means that the more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions and character of your sin.” ― Timothy Keller About LauraLaura is married to her best friend Austin, and has three kids, two of who are adopted. They have been missionaries to college students for the last 11 years and currently serve in Denver Colorado with Master Plan Ministries. Laura loves to speak to women's and college groups and wrote an in-depth Bible study, Beholding Him, Becoming Missional which goes through First Samuel last year. She blogs at Beholding Glory and you can also find her on facebook, twitter, youtube, instagram and pintrest. |
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