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More Than We Can Handle
Have
you ever really thought about the statement, “God
never gives us more than we can handle?”
This
statement sounds so encouraging and so comforting when we’re facing a
difficult trial, but…
I don’t believe it’s true.
My
living with ALS is more than Mary, and I can handle. I look around me
and see others, even family and friends, trying to cope with
difficult trials that they don’t seem to be handling very well.
Others are trying to battle temptations like drugs, alcohol,
gambling, pornography, and so many other “lures”
that they don’t seem to have the power to conquer. Still, others are
trying to fight what appear to be oppressive spirits that we call
Depression,
Bi–polar
Disorder,
PTSD,
and too many other names to list in this short blog post.
It’s
all too much to handle!
“No
temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is
faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are
able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so
that you will be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
The
above verse is where the “God
never gives us more than we can handle” saying
comes from. The Greek origin of the word “temptation”
(peirasmos),
used in this verse, can also mean “test”
and “trial.”
Pretty much every challenge we’re trying to cope with falls
under the category of a temptation, test or trial. But, nowhere in
the above verse does it say that “God
gives
us”
these horrible tests, trials, and temptations.
The suicide
rate in America has risen 30% since 1999, and deaths from drug
overdoses are at an all-time high. Drug overdoses are the leading
cause of death in America for those under 55 years of age. So many
people are dying from suicides and drug overdoses that the overall
life expectancy rate has dropped for the last three years. This
three-year decline is the most since World War 1 and the flu pandemic
a hundred years ago.
Apparently, many people are going
through difficulties that are more than they can handle. In this
life, we will undoubtedly face tests, trials, and temptations that
are “more
than we can handle.” God
doesn’t “give
us”
difficult trials, but, for reasons we can’t fully understand in this
life, He does allow them to come against even the most faithful
followers of Christ.
The Apostle Paul wrote the above verse,
and also the passage below. The passage below gives us the biggest
reason that God does allow tests, trials, and temptations to invade
our lives. This passage also gives context to the “God
never gives us more than we can handle” saying:
“For
we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which
came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our
strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the
sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in
ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so
great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set
our hope.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)
“Affliction,”
“burdened excessively, beyond our strength,” “despaired
even of life…”
Can you relate to this? Mary and I sure can.
Paul concluded that all of this happened to him (and to us) “so that we would (learn) not trust in ourselves, but in God…”
We will definitely face tests, trials, and temptations that are “more than we can handle,” but they are not more than God can handle – if we seek His help. Part of the grace that God gives in our tests, trials, and temptations comes in the form of people that He prompts to help us. I want to be one of these people, not only because so many people have helped us, but helping others when they’re overwhelmed by things too great for them to handle, keeps me from being “self-focused.”
Since becoming a follower of Christ, I’ve wondered why the non-Christian alcoholic, drug addict, and the suicidal didn’t give Christ a chance to help them overcome whatever their demons might be. “Do they think that becoming a follower of Christ is a fate worse than death?” I wondered.
It’s so ironic to me that many followers of Christ, people who were perfectly happy with the life they were living, chose to be martyred for refusing to renounce their faith in Christ.
The suicidal person ends his life because he has no hope, peace, and joy, while Christian martyr chooses death by refusing to renounce his hope, peace, and joy.
“Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)
If it were true that ‘God never gives us more than we can handle,’ Christ suffered and died for nothing.
Picture from Amazingfacts.org
Just Imagine
I saw the movie, “I Can Only Imagine” the other night. It’s a great biographical story about salvation and forgiveness. Writing movie reviews is not my thing, but I highly recommend this movie.
After seeing the movie, I began thinking about the title of the song and the movie, “I Can Only Imagine.“ Bart Millard, the man who wrote the song and the one that the movie is about, was imagining his dad in heaven as he was writing the song.
I started thinking about the imagination, especially when it comes to heaven and eternity.
What is the imagination?
(It’s) “the ability to form a mental image of something that is not perceived through the five senses. It is the ability of the mind to build mental scenes…”
The imaginary realm is not just the stuff of kids; for good or for evil, our imagination is a powerful force. For Christians, the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2) also refocuses our imagination and we begin to see God’s vision for man and the whole of His creation.
Being wheelchair-bound, hooked up to a pump that feeds me, and not being able to speak for the last 20+ years, I use my imagination much more than I did before ALS invaded my life. Even my vacations are imaginary, lived out vicariously through family and friends, or through Rick Steves on PBS.
Before making a commitment to follow Christ at the age of twenty-three, the rare times I even thought about heaven, the picture in my mind was bleak. Back then, I wasn’t sure that I even believed in heaven. But, to the extent that my spiritually confused mind could imagine a heaven, I pictured it as an ethereal place where disembodied spirits were floating around aimlessly.
Can I sign you up? No thanks.
After making a commitment to follow Christ, I, like all Christians (I hope), began reading the Bible regularly and a much different picture of heaven, the true picture of heaven, was formed in my reborn imagination.
Just imagine this exciting place – a very real place:
Disembodied spirits floating around aimlessly? No way!
Don’t believe most of what well-meaning people tell you at the funeral of a loved one; God did not “need another angel.“ But, Jesus tells us that we will “be like the angels.” And, we’ll be (physically) like Jesus Himself after He was resurrected from the dead (Matthew 22:30 & 1 John 3:2).
What were the bodies of the angels like when they visited earth? And, what was Jesus’s body like when He appeared to more than five hundred people after His resurrection?
If you said they looked like men, you’re right.
The Bible tells us that we wouldn’t know the difference between men and angels even if they were our house guests (Hebrews 13:2). (I suspect that I’ve been married to an angel for 32 years).
Just imagine a body that defies the laws of physics. A body that can appear and disappear in a blink of the eye, but a body that can eat real food and drink wine (Luke 24:36-43 & Mark 14:25). I’ll have to take it slow because I haven’t had wine or any drink containing alcohol in over thirty-two years – a champagne toast on our wedding day.
Just imagine a heaven on earth. A lot of people, even many Christians, don’t realize that the permanent heaven will be on a “new earth.“ (Isaiah 65:17, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1).
Just imagine no more sickness, no more cancer, ALS or any other stinkin’ disease. No more heartbreaking St. Jude and Shriners commercials! No more need for feeding tubes and wheelchairs! (Isaiah 35:5-6 & Revelation 21).
“I saw a new heaven (earth’s atmosphere) and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away…And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.” (Revelation 21)
After reading this, you might be asking, Bill, if you really believe this, why don’t you stop using your breathing machine and remove your feeding tube and move on to this beautiful heaven you’re talking about?
It’s a fair and logical question.
Believe me, there have been days, really bad days, days when pneumonia left me gasping for air. Days when my whole body was aching from the flu. Many days when I’ve wanted to die, even prayed to die, but…
I recovered…
And, I remembered that God still has a mission for me here. Like all followers of Christ, my mission is The Great Commission; persuading others, maybe even you, to join me in heaven for eternity.
Can I sign you up?
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Unshakable Hope 