I’ve been a pastor for several years, and over the years, I’ve heard many well-meaning people say, “God will never give you more than you can handle.” At first, this thought consoled me. After reading the Bible a few times, I realized this is not true. It sounds good in theory, but it doesn’t work in practice.
If you’ve read your Bible, you’ll quickly realize there were many occasions when people were in over their heads, and if God didn’t show up, they were up the creek without a paddle.
A good case study is the Apostle Paul. He was no stranger to suffering. Other than Jesus, he endured more suffering than any other believer in the New Testament. He was beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, stoned, left for dead, snake bitten, hungry, naked, and cold (that’s only what is recorded in scripture).
In writing to the Corinthian church, he was admittingly vulnerable with them regarding his hardships when he said, “We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.” (2 Cor. 1:8-9).
I’m not sure about you but being “crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure” sounds a little bit worse than having a bad day. Paul had some bad years, but with God’s help, he endured.
Regarding suffering, we can walk away with four truths from this scripture:
- You’re not alone in your suffering. Scriptures say God will never leave you nor forsake you (Deut. 31:6). It’s in our sufferings where we learn the faithfulness of God. When life is easy and good, we don’t need him as much, but he has our full attention when life is difficult.
- Suffering teaches us not to rely on our own strength. At a young age, we are taught to be self-reliant and to take care of ourselves. We’ve bought into the lie that it’s a weakness to ask for help or to admit you don’t have everything together. (It pains me to admit this.)
- Suffering teaches us to rely on God because it forces us to come to the end of our rope. God is at the end of the rope. Never mind, God is the one holding the rope.
- Suffering leads us to a greater awareness and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. It’s in our sufferings where He most has our attention. Pain has a way of getting our attention. When you’re hurting, you’re more open to listening to advice and receiving correction.
If you’re suffering today, you can rest assured that God is fully aware of it. He is working all things in your life for your good. Paul reminds us of this in Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
If it’s not good yet, then God is still working things out. Keep hoping, trusting, and growing in grit and grace!