If I had a blog, mine for today would be entitled What Christians SHOULDNT say, even when they mean well Ive been struggling with the real desire to say this and the fact that it will probably offend someone, so I apologize in advance. Have you ever heard someone (with the best intentions) say this-- God never gives us more than we can handle.? (empathetic pats on the shoulder usually accompany this statement) OR even better, a very solemn, Well (insert name here) must be a very strong person, because God doesnt give us more than we can handle Unfortunately, that is NOT what the bible says...exactly. Heres why it bothers me so much. To a Christian, this is an obvious statement of Gods good grace, but what about to someone who doesnt regularly walk with God? First, this statement implies that GOD GAVE this bad circumstance. He didnt. He may have ALLOWED it, but He didnt give it. There is a difference. The Bible says He is the giver of ALL GOOD THINGS. (and can you kind of see how someone who doesnt know the Lord could possibly get a wrong impression of Him from that?) Second, it implies that God will never allow anything in our life that we cannot bear. Thats just not true. God didnt make one person stronger than the other (ok, maybe He did) but still. He didnt one day look down and say Well, since I made you stronger I should let you suffer this heartache. Um, no. Thats now how it works either. We are HUMAN. By all definitions this means we are WEAK (and that means ALL OF US). Sometimes, He DOES ALLOW things that are MORE than we can handle. He is helping us learn how to depend on Him. He is teaching us how weak we really are. He is longing for us to come to Him and lay our burdens down. HE NEVER INTENDED FOR US TO HANDLE ANYTHING. (I think the Bible at least makes that last sentence pretty clear, dont you? Just check out Exodus 14:14 and cross reference it. Youll get it.) Thirdly, I think it just puts God in an unfair box. At a moment when we should be leaning on God, were kind of saying, well God wouldnt have given you this if you couldnt handle it
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 14:44:46 +0000
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