Have you ever heard the phrase, “God will never give you more than you can handle”?

That sounds great, doesn’t it? Too bad it isn’t true!

People who say this are usually trying to encourage someone who is suffering or facing a difficult situation. They usually have 1 Corinthians 10:13 in mind, which states, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it..” While the intention to encourage others is good, they are twisting Scripture to make it say something it doesn’t.

The word translated “temptations” can refer to a temptation to a sin, a trial, or any type of suffering. In the beginning of this chapter, in 1 Corinthians 10:1-12, Paul is talking about Israel’s sins of idolatry, immorality, testing God, and grumbling. He isn’t talking about trials and suffering. So when Paul writes verse 13, we can see that he is writing about temptation to sin. Sin stalks us but God is faithful and provides a way of escape so we can resist.

When people take those words about temptation to sin and apply them to trials and suffering, then the statement is not true. In fact, the opposite is true: God does give us more than we can handle.

Let’s look at Paul’s experience. In 2 Corinthians 1:8–9, it clearly shows that God may give some people more suffering than he or she can handle. Paul says, “8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.”

What Paul means here is that he and his companions were crushed and overwhelmed beyond their ability to endure, and they thought they would never live through it.  In fact, they expected to die. When Paul says this he is saying he had more than he could handle.

So why does God give us more than we can handle? God gives us more than we can handle by ourselves so we will depend on Him.

Because of our sinful nature, our default mode as humans is self-sufficiency and independence from God. Rather than allowing His power to replace our weakness, we naturally try to handle things on our own, because we are human and that is what our sin nature tells us to do.

Satan knows this. Have you ever wondered how a non-believer can be so happy, even without God in their life? Think about it this way – he has a great job, a terrific family, a new car, a nice home, and everything seems to go his way all the time. Why? Because Satan already has him in his grasp. That’s why things are so difficult for Christians. We go thru trials and sufferings because Satan is constantly tempting us to sin and turn away from God. He doesn’t have us in his clutches, and he knows that God is on our side, so he makes things difficult for us by constantly throwing temptations at us.

In Philippians 4:13, it says, “ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” That doesn’t mean we can do it all by ourselves. It means if we have faith in God, even the smallest amount of faith the size of a mustard seed, He will help us through. We have to remember that when things are going well for us, and we are on top of the mountain, that we didn’t get there on our own. More importantly, we have to remember that the God of the mountain is still God in the valley. Even when things go badly, God is still with us, and we have to have faith that he will see us through.

We also have to remember to thank God for the obstacles He puts in our way. Sometimes, He puts a mountain in our path that we can’t move. We can ask Him to move it for us, but what would we learn from that? He puts these obstacles in our way to make us stronger, and to help us grow in our faith and in our walk with Him. If He moved every obstacle out of the way for us, we would get weaker and expect it all the time, because we would no longer have to climb those mountains and face those obstacles on our own. He will help us, but He won’t do it for us.

Because we believers want to believe that God will never give us more than we can handle, we are sometimes overwhelmed by what life throws at us. Looking back at what Paul tells us in the first chapter of 2 Corinthians, it was when he did not have the strength to face his own suffering that he found God’s power and faithfulness was sufficient to provide what he needed. No matter how much suffering we face, and how deeply hurt we are because of that suffering, we need to know the truth that God’s grace will be sufficient for us in all of our needs.

God never promised us a rose garden. He never said we would have a life without suffering, trials, or temptations. In fact, Jesus said we will suffer trials and temptations, and we will be persecuted in His name for our beliefs. Focusing on our suffering and our own ability to handle it doesn’t bring comfort. Focusing on God and His resources for us in suffering does bring great comfort and hope. And when suffering and trials come, – not if, but when, – God promises to always be with us because He is faithful.

So, instead of saying, “God will never give you more than you can handle”, what we should be saying is…

GOD WILL NEVER GIVE US MORE THAN HE CAN HANDLE.

In Christian Brotherhood,
James Bozeman
Texas Division Chaplain