5/12/2020 – Pastor Brian’s Blog –

There is this saying that I have often heard Christians say, and some even claim it as a promise. The saying is this…

“God will not give you any more than you can handle.”

You’ve probably heard it before as well. Maybe you’ve even said it. There is a problem, however: it is not even in the Bible.

Let me debunk this myth right now: THIS SAYING IS NOT TRUE! If you are like me, you already know it is not true because God has given you more than you can handle! God gave the Apostle Paul more than he could handle. Paul writes:

“For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction … that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.”

2 Corinthians 1:8

If ever there was a hopeless situation, Paul was in it. Yet Paul had not done anything to cause it. In fact, Paul was just following the will of God which lead him directly to this place of despair.

If you are reading my blog today, and you are feeling you are in a situation that is way beyond your abilities and strengths, you are in good company. The apostle Paul was a man who served God, knew God, and pursued His calling at all costs. Paul’s life should demonstrate to us that a life of service to our King doesn’t guarantee a life without difficulties, sorrow, or sacrifice. In fact, the opposite is typically true.

God even lead His one and only Son to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus was emotionally and physically broken…

“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Mark 14:34-36

God sometimes allows situations into your life and mine that appear to be hopeless because He is trying to direct our focus onto Him. We may feel like giving up because we can’t fix the situation that we find ourselves in and neither can anyone else. All of our human resources have been depleted. Been there; done that? ‘Been there; done that,’ more than once?? I have!

Yet Paul wrote ‘when life’s difficulties are beyond me, when there is no fixing the situation,’ he revealed a very key principle for success in his next statement,

“…indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead … He on whom we have set our hope.”

2 Corinthians 1:9-10

In order to take Paul deeper in his faith, God put him in a situation where his resume, abilities, and connections could not change anything. Why? So that Paul would learn to trust God even more so than he had done thus far.

Is God being mean in these situations? No.

I understand that it may feel like that when you’re going through it, but what God’s really doing is trying to take you into a deeper relationship with Him. It is in these times—these hopeless scenarios where you see no way up, under, or around, yet God somehow ultimately “raises the dead” for you. God has now become real to you at a level you never experienced Him at before.

Seek God when life’s situations have you struggling. Don’t be ashamed of the pain or despair you may feel; Paul and Jesus both felt it. Never deny your emotions. Simply turn them Godward and look to the One who knows how to raise the dead.

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

Isaiah 55:6

See, if you’re not dying or in a situation that is dying—whether it’s relational, financial, emotional, or some other, you will never know what it is like to experience a resurrection. If you don’t need one, you won’t see one.

Maybe it is time that you just stop fighting on your own and look to Jesus, Who said,

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

My friends! In the midst of life’s troubles, just press on…

Categories: Pastor's Blog