A Sparrow's Selah

At this point in life, I feel like we have all heard the phrase, “God will never give you more than you can handle.” I have heard it preached from the pulpit, in chapel, Bible classes and studies, and Sunday School. I have heard it all my life. It is on bumper stickers, t-shirts, keychains, and wall art. It is pounded into our heads, and the church says, “Amen.”

It is a great thought, and it can give hope. Yet, I have some questions about this statement.

What book of the Bible? What chapter? What verse? Please show me where that is in the Bible. I already know what verse you are thinking of. 1 Corinthians 10:13, right? Read your mind, didn’t I? This verse alone is of great comfort, but it isn’t saying what we often use it to say. At least not when it is used to support the statement that “God will never give you more than you can handle.” Let’s look at the verse.

No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it. (CSB)

Ok what about in the NIV
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. 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 endure it.

ESV?
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

What about the NASB?
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

We can’t forget about looking at the context of the verse. Sometimes we don’t look at the context as a whole. So, let’s do that now by looking at the full chapter, at least through verse 13.

Warnings from Israel’s Past

10 Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, ² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵ Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness.

⁶ Now these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did. ⁷ Don’t become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party. ⁸ Let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died. ⁹ Let us not test Christ as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes. ¹⁰ And don’t grumble as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. ¹¹ These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. ¹² So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. ¹³ No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.

This chapter goes on for 18 more verses, so I will stop there, but do you see a recurring theme? Up to this point, Paul has been warning the Corinthians about sin and temptation. Now go back and look at verse 13. What word keeps showing up?

Temptation

“He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.”

That is a promise, and God stands on it. Yet, this is not a promise about suffering. And I say thank God for that, because when we go through far more than we can handle, this saying can leave us questioning whether we were lied to. Looking at the context, we can clearly see that the problem isn’t that God failed to keep His promise. The problem is that we made a promise on His behalf that He never made Himself.

Ok, so what do I do now with that knowledge? What happens when I can’t handle it? When the burden is too much for me to bear, what happens then? Does this mean there is something wrong with me? Am I too weak?

I can answer that last bit for you. Yes, you are too weak to do this. I am too weak to do this. Let me tell you how weak I am by sharing an experience with my weakness that will forever be etched into my memory. But let me start with some backstory.

After my surgery on my left hip, which left me with five screws on the left side of my pelvis, I had another surgery on my right side that brought the total to nine screws. Getting x-rays was painful, but I was always very entertained to hear the techs’ reactions when they would see the image. One sweet lady proclaimed, “What happened to you, baby? Sweet Jesus…” as she began to pray. I would laugh as I told them that someone might be missing some Phillips screws from their toolbox.

For years after those surgeries, every time it would rain or get cloudy, or there was fog, snow, or humidity, I would be in agony. Barometric pressure was not my friend. When this would happen, I could barely walk. I would consider crawling, but I’ve gotten stuck on the floor too many times to chance it. The pain would be so bad that I would throw up because of it.

On one occasion, we had a week’s worth of rain, and the pain had taken everything from me. I was worn, barely able to sleep, and so far past depleted. I had “Mowglied” it up the stairs and limped to my room, while leaning against the walls for support. Once the door was closed behind me, my body took that moment to give up on me, and I crumbled to the ground. I curled up in the fetal position and wept at the feet of Jesus.

In my weeping, without wiping away my tears, without making myself “presentable”, because God does not care if we come to Him messy, I prayed out loud, through the breaks in my cries. The weeping was so heavy, that it broke my words. It was the kind of prayer that my words could not be understood. No one but God could understand. I could barely call some of the things I said words, because the cries of my heart were so heavy.

“Abba….Abba, Father, I can’t…I’m done. This is too much! I can’t do it anymore! I’m on the ground and I don’t have strength to get back up. You have to be the One to get me up because I’ve got nothing. Anything that happens now will be You, not me, because I’ve got nothing to give. Everything else after that, will also be You. Father….help.”

I did not ask for peace in the moment. I asked for strength, just enough strength to get off the floor and keep going. God gave me both. I first felt my muscles, which had tensed from the pain, begin to relax. My weeping slowed as I felt His peace blanket my heart. I went from wanting to get up off the ground to wanting to lie there in His presence and that peace. The pain was still there, but I was the most relaxed I had been in days. I wanted to stay there, but I felt pulled to get up. God gave me the strength to slowly stand. It felt as if He pulled me up from the ground and allowed me to lean against Him, supporting me as I stood on my own two feet. I did not have the strength, but God helped me stand and continue to press forward.

I can think of another time where I had to have another surgery later that year. Insurance wouldn’t cover it because I had already had surgery at the beginning of the year. My nurse and surgeon continued to do battle with the insurance company, while my parents and I discussed the options: either cancel the surgery or move forward in faith.

The thing was, my family and I had moved, and my surgeon was now ten hours away. It would have been too much for my body to be in the car for that long, so mom and I would have to fly in the day before my surgery and stay in a hotel until I was able to travel home.

My dad asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I wanted us to move forward as if God was going to move in this. So, we did.

My nurse and surgeon continued to fight for us as Mom and I got on that plane. The night before the surgery, I still hadn’t heard anything, but I fasted as if the surgery were happening. Mom and I didn’t sleep well that night.

When I woke up the next morning, the hospital called. My surgeon had gotten on the phone with my insurance company while he was in surgery. He told them that, yes, I had already had surgery earlier that year, but I needed another one in order to function.

I don’t know what changed their mind this time, but we got the green light!

Yes, my surgeon and nurse fought for me, and I will forever be grateful that they did. But I also believe that God had led us to this team, knowing that one day I would need a surgeon and nurse who were willing to fight for their patient.

I couldn’t control the outcome of this overwhelming situation, but God could!

I have more stories from my own life that speak to “but God”, but let’s allow the Bible to do the work. Paul honestly writes to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11:

⁸ We don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed—beyond our strength—so that we even despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and he will deliver us. We have put our hope in him that he will deliver us again ¹¹ while you join in helping us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gift that came to us through the prayers of many.

If “God will never give you more than you can handle” were a biblical promise about suffering, then we wouldn’t also have verses like this in the Bible. The two would contradict each other. Knowing that Paul, a hero of the faith, was so overwhelmed that he described it as being “beyond our strength” gives me hope. It reminds me that I am not doing something wrong when I feel overwhelmed. God is not disappointed in me in that moment.

Also, if “God will never give you more than you can handle,” it would take away from those “but God” moments. I wouldn’t get to experience knowing, without a shadow of a doubt, that I did not accomplish something on my own. It would certainly be more comfortable if we were never faced with more than we can handle, but we would never learn what it means to completely rely on God when our own strength fails.

There is so much more to God than that, of course, but He describes Himself throughout Scripture as our Helper, our Protector, our Shield, our Defender, and our Refuge. Why would He give us those descriptions of Himself if we weren’t going to desperately need Him?

This cliché that we like to tell people who are in need can take the focus off of God’s strength and put it on our own. Instead of going through something, looking back, and saying, “Wow, look at what God carried me through. Thank you, God,” we end up saying, “I did that because God knew I was strong enough to handle it. Yeah, I’m built for tough.” But where does God get the glory in that?

No. Give me the “but God” story.

I was too weak, but God. I couldn’t control the outcome, but God. I didn’t know what to do next, but God. I was overwhelmed beyond my own strength, but God. When I look back on my hard times, I want to see where my strength stopped and God’s stepped in. I want to see the times when I gave up and was reminded, “No, I’m here. We got this. I got you.”

Those circumstances are painful. I’d prefer for them to not be part of my story or my future. Yet those moments will happen, so I’m thankful for this knowledge. What a testimony to His ever-present love, His power, His strength, and His faithfulness to His promise that He will never leave or forsake us. To God be the glory!

Selah: Take a purposeful look back at your past. Can you list different times when you know that the only way you were able to carry on was because of strength that came only from God? Did you ever take the time to thank God for that? If not, take a moment to do that now. Give God the glory for getting you through the heaviest of days.