God won’t give me more than I can handle?

I had a colleague once who was quite witty. She told me this story from her childhood that still makes me laugh. She was little, perhaps in elementary school, and dealing with something seemingly difficult for a young child. In response, her mother told her, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” To which her little self said, “Well, clearly God doesn’t know me well, because I can’t handle this!”

Can you relate? I can.

The truth is, this platitude is one of those sly lies that while often coming from a well-intentioned mouth, can do much more harm than good.

If this were the truth—if God really didn’t give us more than we can handle, or, in the case of tragedy and suffering, if God didn’t allow more than we can handle—then why would we need Him?

To believe this platitude, is to expect humanity to be able to do the work of God. The truth is, His power is made perfect in our weakness. Paul says, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corin. 12:9-10, ESV)

It is precisely when we feel weak and can’t handle what has been given us, that we can allow the Father to do what He is best at—filling us afresh with the Holy Spirit as He leads us through whatever it is we are facing.

Sister, here is the thing, we will be “given" more than we can handle in this life—whether those are things we might consider blessings or things we consider tragedies. So while the younger version of my friend was onto something when she said she couldn’t handle what she was facing, none of us can handle what comes our way without Emmanuel, God with us.

So maybe instead of “God won’t give you more than you can handle” we should say, “God can handle this. Trust Him.” 

** Written by Lindsey, this was originally posted on The Joyful Life magazine’s Instagram account.