Wednesday, May 29, 2013

More Than We Can Handle

You've heard it before, I know you have...especially if you live in the south.  It's one of those things people say to each other that's supposed to make you feel better.  It's said with good intentions, but it's not true.  In fact it's absolute crap.

I've heard it from friends, from random people in the grocery store when they see the packages overflowing from my cart and my three children in tow, and most recently I even heard it from my doctor.  "God doesn't give you more than you can handle."

It's just not true people.  Don't believe the hype.  If it was true, then man...I'd feel like an absolute failure more days than not.  At this point in time I'm finishing up a season in my life where I have three children at home with me (5, 3, and 5 mos), I work 31 hrs a week (at home....somehow), and I'm still responsible for the household business (meals, grocery shopping, bills, cleaning, laundry...you get the idea).  Add onto that the most recent development of getting our house ready to sell and trying to keep it spotless for house showings.  I don't know if you are superman/woman...but I am most definitely not.  And if, at any point in time I might have thought I was...this present season of life that I described above would have convinced me otherwise. The truth is it's more than I can handle most days.

Don't get me wrong...I live a very blessed life with an amazing, godly husband, three healthy children, and caring friends and family to do life with.  So, i'm not saying that I'm miserable.  However, most days things are DEFINITELY more than I could handle. It's just the facts.

Forget my life and look at examples in the Bible...
Moses - He was given the task of leading God's people out of slavery in Egypt.  He was the one who led the people through the Red Sea.  More than he could handle?  I'd guess yes.  In fact...we don't have to guess.  Re-read the story and you'll see that when God first tells him his assignment, he tells God that the assignment is too much for him.

Daniel - Remember the scary sleepover with the lions?  Yep, Daniel was the one who did that.  Or was he?  I'm pretty sure Daniel wasn't the muscles behind that miracle...and I'm also certain it was more than he could handle.  (If I think three hungry kids are too much...what about three hungry lions...yeahhhhh, I'll pass!)

David - He killed the giant with the rock.  Or did he?  Again, I'm guessing the situation was a little more than kid-version David could handle.  Maybe David isn't the one who deserves the credit...

We could go on and on with examples from the Bible, and probably examples from your life and mine...or people we know.  Enter Jesus.  Before Jesus we were under the law, meaning we had to keep all of God's laws and commandments in order to spend eternity in heaven and not in hell.  Too much to handle?  Ummm, yes!  No one....let me repeat that...no one could keep the law.  God knew that and he had compassion on us because of his great mercy and love.  God is a rescuer.  He always has been and always will be.  So he sent Jesus.  Fully man and fully god - the only who could fulfill the law and save us from a situation that was too much for us to handle.

In the message version of Matthew 19:26, Jesus says this to a man who thinks he's got the situation under control:

"Jesus looked hard at them and said, 'No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself.  Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.'"

There you have it folks.  Jesus has laid to rest this cultural lie that claims 'God doesn't give you more than you can handle'.  It's simply not true.  We DO end up with more than we can handle.  Sometimes we do it to ourselves, but other times it happens regardless of what we do.  (Side note - I think people get this mixed up with the verse that says God won't tempt us beyond what we can bear, in 1 Cor 10:13)  But the best news is...
                         ready for it?.....

God can handle it.

He's got it.

No problem or circumstance is too much for him.

He wants us to come to him.  He wants us to ask for help.  He's telling me and you to quit trying to be superwoman or superman and instead ask him to rescue us in the midst of our situation that is too much to handle...and then watch for God to do his thing.  Because he will.  He always does.  Because he loves us.