Sure you’ve heard it before. Something negative or hard pops up in your life and as a way to encourage people often reference the “scripture” that “God won’t put more on you than you can bear”. Great intentions filled with encouragement but void of truth. I’ve searched and I’ve googled and it’s not there. That “scripture” is not a scripture at all. It’s not in the bible. The bible does say that whenever we are presented with a temptation, God will provide a way of escape but nothing about not having more than you can bear. 

I’ve heard this before but I was recently thinking on the phrase and really realized the implications that come with it. If we never were handed more than we could bear, why would we need to call out to and rely on God? If we could handle everything… we “need” Him. 

Like a group project, I hated group projects in school. Sometimes you get a good deal and then there are times where you get stuck with that partner or group member that does absolutely nothing making it super hard and frustrating on you. It’s the same thing as saying God won’t give you more than you can handle. Sometimes we’re given situations that we were NEVER meant to handle on our own. The reason way doing a group project alone is annoying is because it wasn’t designed for you to do it along. Many of the “unbearable” situations are not designed for us to handle on our own. 

If we were to be honest, we have found ourselves in situations at one time or another (maybe even now) that just seem unbearable; way too much to handle. The good news is we don’t have to.

We must realize that these battles that come up that are just unreal, intense, and way too hard aren’t designed for us to carry or even handle. God loves us so much that He unselfishly sent His son to die a humiliating and excruciating death so we wouldn’t have to pay that price which we definitely owed.

Call on Jesus. He’s there waiting for you! He’s right beside you. He sees your tears. He sees your pain and struggle. He wants to exchange that for His peace, love, and victory.

God won’t give you more than you can bear? I don’t know about that. I think sometimes we do end up with more than we can bear because the “more” wasn’t designed for us to handle on our own.

 

In love,

C.B.