Dear Friends,
Today’s “thought” comes from a friend who attended my church and Bible studies in Honduras. Her name is Heather Clark. She is both a medical doctor and a Christian Life and Mindset Coach who transparently confesses, “As a Christian physician who has survived 3 episodes of major depression, I know how bleak the world can look when consumed by "not good enough," negative and anxious thoughts.” Her ministry goal is to help women find more joy in their faith and life. If you would like to check out her ministry, I include a link to her website at Christian Coaching Center, LLC
Today’s selection is for anyone (male or female!) who struggles from having accepted as biblical a common saying that’s not! It’s one of a series of posts that debunks phrases commonly thought to be biblical because people in churches repeat them so often. Enjoy.
That’s not in the Bible….
“Today’s statement: ‘God won’t give you more than you can handle.’ Let’s go to 2 Corinthians 1:8-9. ‘We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death.’
Another translation states that the hardships crushed them beyond their ability to endure, and that they were completely overwhelmed and ready to give up entirely.
Crushed.
Completely overwhelmed.
Great pressure.
Far beyond our ability to endure.
It felt like we had received a death sentence.
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a whole lot more than they could handle. And remember this was Paul, history’s greatest evangelist, telling the story. If Paul was completely overwhelmed by this situation, there is a 100% likelihood that I would have been too. It sure sounds like God gave him WAY more than he could handle.
But what comes next? Verses 9-10: ‘But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.’ God allows us to be overwhelmed. He might even at times intentionally give us more than we can handle.
BUT WHY?
So that we quit relying on ourselves.
So that we finally come to the end of ourselves and admit that we actually can’t handle this on our own.
So that our faith becomes grounded in the God who raises the dead rather than trusting in our own abilities, thoughts, resources and bootstraps.
No one wants to go thru the hard. It sucks. It’s painful. It’s dark and lonely. It seems never-ending when you’re walking thru the valley. We would never choose it for ourselves or for anyone we love. But that’s not the whole story. The story continues with “But then God…” When we are faced with the hard things in life, and come to the end of ourselves, God steps in. But then God… gives us:
→A faith that has been tested by fire.
→A deep confidence in our all-powerful God who brings people back from death.
→An unwavering hope that God will deliver us again and again, no matter what the future brings.
God DOES give us more than we can handle…. But then God saves us, rescues us, and handles the burden for us as we trust in Him.
So, if God has given you more than you can handle, tell Him about it. Admit your doubts, your fears, your weakness, and your inability to get thru this on your own. Then try adding this phrase to each sentence, “But then God….” I would love to support you if you are going thru the hard right now. I would also love to hear your stories of times you were completely overwhelmed or when God brought you back from the brink of death.
Contact me at http://www.sunflowerchristiancoaching.com/
Blessings to you, my friends. Love, Heather
Heather is right. Sometimes in the church we are made to think we’re supposed to rise to every occasion and show God and others that we CAN do it. So, we adopt that stiff upper lip, put our nose to the grindstone once more, and muster up all we have inside to conquer all that’s in our path — as if there is nothing a little more effort or determination to try harder, cannot overcome!
Yet, in II Corinthians 1:8-10, where Paul seems to have been in the horrible depths of burnout, or going through a season of very deep depression, does not do that. Confessing he has nothing left, or nothing in himself to draw upon (like a bone dry well), he casts himself upon the God who raises those who are dead! Those who are dead inside and have no resources left (at that time) to draw from. A time, says Paul, which God permitted to bring him to the end of himself, so he would stop depending on himself, and his own talents, abilities, and resources, and depend entirely upon God instead, who raises people that are dead! Raises those who have nothing in themselves to draw from, and must simply cast themselves upon God's inexhaustible grace. It is reminiscent of Isaiah 30:15: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” And then Isaiah adds, “But you would have none of it.”
Those who feel they must prove themselves to God, or pull themselves up by their bootstraps, cannot fathom that there are times when God simply wants us to repent and rest and be quiet and trust – something we should also be able to do even in our times of activity, if we are working FROM grace and not FOR grace.
Living in His All-sufficient Grace, Pastor Jeff
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