🙌It's the Friday Call to Worship!🙌

Has someone ever tried to encourage you in a hard time with a well-meaning, "God won't give you more than you can handle"? The motives are pure, but the theology doesn't line up.

Wednesday was more than my family could handle this week. My husband and I prayed specifically for one of our children Tuesday night. By 9am on Wednesday, THREE doors swung open. We paused to thank God for His faithfulness and then scrambled to rearrange the next two weeks. That same Wednesday was one of the most volatile we've had with our autistic son in a while. We had to tag-team parent and call in backup.

When a regular Wednesday is more than you can handle, then what about the financial crises, medical diagnoses, family strains, dashed dreams, and other giants we face throughout our lives? If someone tells me God won't give me more than I can handle when I'm at my breaking point, I just feel more broken.

I think the well-meaning mantra is a misconstrued take on 1 Corinthians 10:13, where Paul encourages Corinthians that God won't let you be tempted by more than you can handle. The historical and linguistic context speaks to a person's ability to choose when tempted, not suffering or trials. In fact, a few chapters later, Paul spoke of his own trials and tells the Corinthians, "...we were completely overwhelmed-beyond our strength-so that we even despaired of life itself." (2 Corinthians 1:8)

Scripture repeatedly shows us this life IS more than we can handle without God's intervention. I thank God for the daily reminder that I wasn't made to live without Him. Paul says it best, "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. 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." (2 Corinthians 1:9-10)

When you feel like life is too much, you're exactly right. Thank Him for a constant reminder that we don't have to be enough. He is, and He always will be.

Listen to "I Stand" by The Belonging Co.