Last night a dear friend called me and she was so upset. She was telling me of her week and how heavy it was. She made the comment that she did not think she could handle any more. This is when I stated that the bible says, "He will not give you more than you can handle." She then stated, "I do not think that is in the bible." I said, "you know I am not sure if it is also?" So then I give her 1 Corinthians 10:13 "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to hear it."
I assured her that God would provide a way out of all of this and we hung up the phone. I then started pondering the statement that I had made to her. So, with my trusty Strongs in hand I looked up certain words like handle, give, he or provide. And you know, it is not in the bible. So then I asked my husband Jeff about it. His statement was, "if God does not give you more than you can handle, why does He say "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me" Phil 4:13". I said "What do you mean?"
"Tanya if your focus is on Christ and you are not worried, He will do all of it and get you through it. This is His way to provide a way out for you. He takes charge, He fights for you." It made sence, I thought.
My point is this, there are certain statements or sayings that I was raised with. And through these statements they were always stated that they were in the bible. This is not true, for example, "the serenity prayer" is not in the bible or the statement, "God can only help those who help themselves." This is not in the bible, it is actually a Aesop's fable. My pet peeve is to be in the word and know that this or that is not in the bible. Truth is what I want to stand on, and I have used these sayings before and then realized that they are not even in the bible to begin with.
I am grateful for the repremand and I did the research, which gave me a mini bible lesson. But trust me, I am going to question everything that is said to me. If you say it is in the bible, I am going to ask where and then I am going to do my research. Truth is all that matters to me.
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4 comments:
I've used this verse and thought about it more over the years. I think God does give us more than we can handle. How else could our faith grow. Not that God burdens us with things of great magnitude, but I believe He stretches and molds us according to His purpose, little by little. I would have to agree with the almight Jeffer too - We can do all things through Him which strengthens us - but that's the glory - nothing is going to be too big because He's there to help us.
Boy that was a sheer contradiction!
My point (if there is one) is there is nothing that God gives us beyond our capacity to do, but WE think so because we are not finite like God is! We couldn't do it withOUT Him!
OK, stepping down from my soapbox :o)
Could not of said it better myself. Your funny. Love Tanya
I guess I missed something in your post. You mention that you dug into the Strongs for searching for those words and did not find what you were looking for, but how does this change the meaning of 1Co 10:13?
To me the passage is simply saying that God knows where we are at and will not allow something to overwhelm us that would break without providing a way to make it able to be endured at our current level. I know we can overcome anything through God who dwells in us, but I do not know of any believers who are at that point of yielding to God.
Maybe I am just confused by the post.
BTW, I enjoy you blog and am glad to know there are other believers out there that take their faith seriously!
What I meant was that Our strength comes from God. When we go through trials, God will help us overcome them and provide a way out. But, we still go through trials. Some people would say, "Why is God giving me so much, I can not handle this." But we do not handle it, We go to God and focus on Him and through His word, He gives us strength to overcome it. Not finding the word did not change 1 Corinthians 10:13. It changed my thinking that God will not give us more than we can handle.
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