God In Fact Does Give You More Than You Can Handle
I know the quote “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle” makes us feel good and seemingly gives an explanation to the things we go through in life, but this phrase is simply not true nor is it biblical. I know, I know, we’ve heard this quote spoken by many people even religious leaders so it must be true right? Not really. The reason why this isn’t true is because it’s not found in scripture and it in fact contradicts scripture.
Since the beginning in the Garden of Eden, us humans have felt the the need to have more power, know all things and handle all things on our own without assistance from God. That has gotten us into more harm than good so when we say things that “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle” it implies that we are strong enough to handle things on our own and that God knows that and makes sure He doesn’t put too many burdens on us.
There are several scriptures that talk about God carrying our burdens like Matthew 11:28-30 that says “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
It doesn’t say, “Carry your own burdens because God knows you’re strong enough and He won’t add on more than you can handle.”
WE CAN’T HANDLE IT! I’m actually learning this myself as I constantly struggle to put my trust in God. In my own prideful mine I believe that I am strong enough, I have enough emotional intelligence and I can self-care myself into feeling better. But isn’t that the American way? To pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and make things happen in our life? That “God helps those who help themselves?”
No. In the Bible God constantly reminds us of our inability to live without Him. He reminds us that we do not have the bandwidth to carry burdens on our own and that we don't need to. He reminds us that He is our rock, a solid foundation that we run to in times of trouble. That we cast our cares on Him because He cares for us. So God does give us more than we can handle so that we can give everything back to Him to handle.
How to practically live this out:
Pray about everything - “Do not be anxious for anything. But in all things, through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, submit your request to God.”
I personally struggle with prayer. It’s hard for me to sit and tell God what’s going on in my heart and ask for assistance. Very rarely does my pride let me be vulnerable enough to ask for help from God because it believes it knows it all and can handle all things. But prayer is the action of submitting to God, His authority and His will over and over again trusting that He knows best. Prayer says to God that we know we are weak and that our strength is little especially compared to His.
Prayer is probably one of the most powerful spiritual disciplines yet it is utilized very little. I’m working on going to God in prayer about everything that bothers me no matter how big or small because I realize that I have no power. I realize I am not in control. If quarantine season has taught me anything it’s taught me that I am not in control of my life by any means and that I need God for absolutely everything.
So! I want to try something fun. As a community, let’s work on praying everyday for 7 days straight and let’s see what happens. I’m excited about this and I hope you are too. Leave me comments on my IG page letting me know how this goes. I’ll be posting every other day to keep us on track.
Talk to you soon!