There’s a blog post floating around my FB newsfeed this morning, titled, "God will give you more than you can handle: I guarantee it."
I wholeheartedly agree with what the author wrote in her blog post; in fact the body of the post is quite excellent. I do not, however, agree with the wording of the title. I understand her reasoning in writing the title as it is; and in the actual blog, she goes on to explain how important it is to lean on Our Lord (and not simply ourselves). We are to look to Him in everything. I very much agree with all of this; in fact, over the years, I have said the same things multiple times. However, I still disagree with the title of her blog post.
To explain:
The author points out that she does not like the phrase, "God never gives you more than you can handle." Neither do I . . . I cringe when I hear it; and sometimes, depending upon the person saying it and the circumstances at the time, I might even vocally refute it.
However, and again, with heartfelt respect to the author of that particular blog post, neither will God give you more than you can handle.
"God never gives you more than you can handle."
"God will give you more than you can handle."
If I may gently point out, neither of these thoughts are truly accurate.
There are myriad things that happen everyday in various people's lives . . . catastrophic, horrendous and deeply despairing events. Sometimes, such events are the results of people misusing the very precious gift of free will that has been given to absolutely *every one* of us.
Aside from sending Jesus to us to be our Salvation, Free Will is the very next pure and absolute Gift of Love that Our Lord lavishes upon us. We are free to choose Him and we are free to not choose Him. He wants our love, and that can only come from our heart and our own choice to love Him. We are not robots nor are we some type of computer that requires programming. We are living, breathing human beings - made in the Image of God - and we have been given the gift of choice in absolutely everything we do.
We can even choose to sin.
And, sometimes our choices can bring devastating consequences into our lives. Sometimes our choices can bring devastating consequences into the lives of other people. And, of course, vice-versa . . . sometimes other people’s choices can devastate our lives, as well.
For example, murder. Several years ago, one of my friends’ daughter was brutally raped and murdered. I can’t even imagine the depth of pain that my friends went through as they wandered through their grief over this. Through it all, they relied upon and leaned on Our Lord. They poured their hearts out to Him. They looked to Him for His Wisdom, His Guidance and His Comfort. I didn’t know them back then, but I’m most certain that neither one of them thought that God "gave" this to them. And, He didn’t. Sin is what caused my friends’ grief; sin is what caused such atrocities to be inflicted upon their daughter and sin is what took her away from her parents.
Free Will. We have free will to choose to love and we have free will to choose to sin. God did not intend these horrible crimes to happen to my friends’ daughter; in fact, I’m sure all of it grieved Him deeply. Translate that a bit more: God did not "give" this grievous situation to neither the daughter nor her parents; God did not "give" these sin actions to them; it was the free will . . . the choice . . . of the perpetrator that was the catalyst behind it all. BUT. God most definitely was there to comfort my friends; He poured out His Love as a Covering over them and He brought them through it.
In my own life, I have experienced many things that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt Our Lord never intended for me to bear: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and even surviving the suicides of two people. There have been times in my life where I was in so much pain that I truly wondered if I would be able to survive and become whole again.
Free Will. Misused and misapplied Free Will is what caused all of the above mentions; not God. God did not "give" me any of this, so the statement, "God doesn’t give you more than you can handle" does not apply; and neither does the statement, "God will give you more than you can handle." He simply didn’t deem that I should go through any of these things; they were not, in any aspect, His Will for me.
BUT! They did happen. Things happen everyday . . . to you, to me, to everyone. Not all of them are nice and pretty and tied up with bows; some of them are horrifyingly gut-wrenching and some of them are also evil. The GOOD news in all of this is that Our Lord will be there for us, to bring us through the ick and the yuck. He *will* strengthen us and He *will* heal us. I know this for two reasons: (1) I’ve experienced this myself, over and over again, through all of the things that have happened in my life, and (2) His Word tells, over and over again, that He will do this. Our Lord promises it to us.
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9 NIV)
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33 NIV)
The world can be a scary, painful place, sometimes. Sometimes, it is scary and painful because of nature and not necessarily through any fault of anyone. Sometimes, however, we find ourselves in the darkness of despair precisely because of either our own actions or those of someone else. BUT!!! Regardless as to the origin of our anguish at any given moment in time, Our Lord is *always* with us; we have only to look to Him and to trust Him; He *will* cover us and bring us through any trials or painful experiences we may have. That’s it in a nutshell :)
Thanks for reading y’all.
May Our Lord bless you most abundantly.
~Sharmie
