W7D4: More Than You Can Stand

"The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." 1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT

To say that God won’t give us more than we can handle feeds our desire to be in control. The words may sound spiritual, but the truth is they reflect the idol of self. We've all struggled with harsh realities of life that are more than we can stand. The weight on our shoulders crush us and in the midst of the fire, we know it is too much. So, we do anything we can to relieve the pain. We resort to self-protection which is truly a lie from the pit of hell. 

We can only protect ourselves by using negative emotions such as fear, hurt, anger, bitterness and unforgiveness. We use self-medication to numb the pain (i.e., isolation, alcohol, drugs, food, money, work, sex, power, etc.). These things never work, they only increase the need for even more destructive self-protection methods.

The problem is, we can’t use destructive tools to fight something that is destroying us. When we fight fire with fire, we end up destroying everything around us. We need to create a firebreak. We need an area that allows the good to enter and thrive but does not fuel the fire of the bad. Undisciplined emotions produce more unhealthy emotions. Self-medication habits create more destructive habits. These negative emotions and habits become so overpowering that we push God and people out of our lives entirely. 

Life will give us more than we can bear alone, but never more than God can handle. He is willing and able to shoulder the bulk of the pain for us. He often sends others along the way to help relieve some of our burdens. But people were not created to shoulder what we can’t carry. They can temporarily relieve the pressure, and God will use people to help us, but they can’t carry our burdens. That is something we must always look to God for.

By looking to Jesus and following Him through this earthly life, we find He takes the bulk of the burden on His shoulders and leaves us with a peace that surpasses all understanding. We can’t hope to find that from people or things, true peace only comes when we share our burdens with God. That’s when we find that not only can we survive through the trials of life, but we can actually thrive through them!

God gives us the strength we need to get through the trials of life. Sometimes He will use people to come alongside us to share our burdens briefly. In turn, He will honor us by allowing us to do the same for others. But we must remember that people are not our saviors and we are not theirs. That’s God’s work.

Have you ever been angry at God for giving you too much? List times you were crushed and if you can see God in the crushing or if you are still wondering why.

Meditate on “more than you can stand."