Tuesdays with Tabitha:What You Can’t Handle

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." 

Philippians 4:13 (KJV)

I’ve said it a million times, always with the intentions of giving well meaning advise to someone struggling with life's toughest problems. I’ve also received this advise a thousand times over, from people with the same desire to give only the kindest, gentlest advise possible.

“God will never give you anything you can’t handle”.

It’s the oldest trick in the book, the cure all for just about anything that darkens your day. No matter how bad things get, someone can always stop you in your tracks, prevent those next few words of complaints from exiting your mouth by throwing this old fashioned saying at you.

But I don’t believe it any more.

We are human, deeply flawed and stained by a sin nature. God is perfect, magnificent and powerful in every way possible. We can accomplish nothing good on our own, but through His grace, we can do all things.

All things.

THROUGH Him.

But apart from Him, we can do nothing.

So, here’s my reasoning. God absolutely gives us more than we can handle, and He gives us more than we can handle on purpose. Every. Single. Day. However; if we are His children, He is alive and well inside of us. And if we trust Him-fully give Him control of our lives-He will lead and guide us through any storm.
THROUGH Him.

And He allows these trials and tribulations to come our way not to punish us, but to grow us. To help to shape and mold us into the image of His perfect son. And He never ever leaves us alone to deal with any of life's problems, He’s right there with us every step of the way, always waiting for us to come to Him for help in times of need.

If we never had problems, or if the problems we did have were always small and easily fixed, then we wouldn’t need Jesus. Our human nature would kick in, pride would take over, and we would try to “fix” everything ourselves. And then when the problem was solved, we’d pat ourselves on the back, giving ourselves the glory instead of Jesus.

He wants us to need Him. He wants to have a relationship with us, a friendship. He already knows everything that has and will happen in our lives, but He still desires for us to come to Him and share every detail of our day with Him, and to trust Him to work out His will in our lives for Good.
So even though it’s not true that God won’t give us anything we can’t handle, it’s good to know that
He’ll guide us through anything that comes our way.

And we’ll never go through anything HE can’t handle.