Handling it...

For the longest time I believed that the phrase "God doesn't give us more than we can handle" was biblical. I have had to handle a lot in the last six months, so I went out in search of this scripture because I wanted, no, I needed to memorize this truth. Because I was starting to realize that maybe my definition of handle and God's definition of handle were very very different.

If in fact God doesn't give us more than we can handle why then does He require every single one of us to turn 2? I'll let that sink in for a minute. That resounding amen you just heard are all my mommy friends out there who have ever had to put shoes on the same kid 5 times during a 6 minute car ride, or found a potato in the toilet, or went to grab a tissue only to discover that every single one of them had been shredded into a million pieces, but placed back in the box. These are the things on any given day I cannot handle.  

In this crusade for scripture my end game was to be sure that at some point God was going to realize He had given me too much to handle. To my surprise there is no such verse. Can we all just take a moment to say YIKES! So to understand this further I did what anyone would do, I went straight to the google box. Surly someone else has an explanation for this. In my search I came across this blog and it explains that this phrase is believed to come from 1 Corinthians 10:13.  "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."

I love what the author of this post writes next: "This verse is talking about temptation to sin. I would contend that it's not talking about the unbearable sadness of losing loved ones. It's not addressing the experience of physical pain so intense you think you're losing your mind.  It's not about rejection so painful you can hardly breathe. We may be tempted during these experiences, and yet, they are not temptations in themselves. They're just hard, horrible things that happen to us when we live in a fallen world...

...I believe God allows things to happen to us that we can't handle all the time. He lets us fall, slip, be knocked into situations that Satan and our fallen world provide, not because He's a sadist who wants us to fail. No, He lets us come up against huge mountains we can't climb because He knows Who can handle them. Every time we dangle over a precipice of impossibility, we have a chance to let ourselves fall--into the arms of the Healer, Jesus Christ. I don't need some saccharine promise about having enough strength in myself to handle whatever is thrown at me. When I have no more strength left, what I need is to be reminded is to look to Jesus, my Savior who can not only handle anything, but He can make it glorious." To read the rest of her post click here, it's good stuff you won't regret it. 

It's not about what we can handle. It's about who we turn to when there are things that need handling. Things happen, life happens, Spina Bifida happens, potatoes in the toilet happen, but God can handle it.

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. - Deuteronomy 31:8


-Erin-