You may have heard the saying God won’t give you more than you can handle. However, that is nowhere in the Bible. In fact, the Bible is full of stories of God giving people more than they can handle. I think that is part of living a life of faith.
Moses led God’s people out of Egypt, where they were enslaved by a controlling Pharaoh, and parted the Red Sea to give them freedom. Noah built a huge Ark when no one had ever seen rain before. Esther risked her life to go to the king to save her people.
David walked onto a battlefield where he was clearly outmatched by a giant, but he knew with God he could win. Daniel spoke to kings and rulers of Babylon and Persia where he was exiled and never gave up speaking about and obeying God – even when it got him thrown into a den of lions.
None of these people felt equipped to face what God had called them to face, but they had faith God would see them through.
Most of what God calls us to will be too big for us to handle on our own. He hasn’t called us to do it on our own. He has called us to partner with Him to bring about His Kingdom here on Earth.
Hebrews 11:6 (NLT) And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
We also are invited to move by faith to partner with God to do the seemingly impossible.
I remember partner work in school. I hated it. I was usually the student who wanted to perform well and get good grades, and inevitably I was teamed up with someone who didn’t. I was the person who did the bulk of the work to avoid a bad grade.
With God, you are always partnered with the straight-A student who doesn’t mind carrying the load. But the difference is He WANTS to be your partner. He WANTS you to capture His heart on a situation or problem, and He WANTS you to participate in bringing the solution.
Could He accomplish it without you? Absolutely.
But He doesn’t want to. He desires us to be a part of it. He gave us creative minds and an ability to hear His voice through the Holy Spirit. Why would we ever not want to partner with Him?
In the last couple of years of my life, I feel the Lord has definitely given me more than I could handle. I suffered a health crisis that resulted in an eight-month stay in the hospital. My kidneys shut down, and as one doctor put it, I was near death.
Even as the Lord began healing me, I faced challenges with my body as well as emotional challenges. Spending that amount of time in the hospital brought about many complicated feelings.
My mom also developed Alzheimer’s disease. While my body was still healing, we were facing the difficult decision of putting her in memory care. Then my mom unfortunately passed away. She truly lived a life worth celebrating.
This was a lot on my plate. As some might say, more than I could handle. However, I found a deeper place in God that I did not have before going into the hospital. I learned that even on my darkest days, God did not abandon me; He held me.
I’ve learned to depend on Him at a deeper level. I’ve also learned that He grieves with us. He brings joy in the midst of sadness. He brings compassion in the midst of hurt. He truly loves us so much.
I’ve also learned to not stop sharing about the goodness of God. I very much enjoy telling people how good He truly is, even in the midst of challenging circumstances.
Psalm 46:1 (MSG) God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him.
God is always there when we need Him. He is always ready to receive us with open arms. We just need to turn our eyes and our hearts toward Him.
