"God will never give you More than you can handle?" True or false?

Have you ever walked through a VERY hard time and had someone tell you, "Don't worry, God will never give you more than you can handle."  Did you ever feel like yelling back..."Trust me this IS more than I can handle!"

I recently returned from caring for my grandmother who is on her journey home to be with Jesus, however, we feel like this may be a longer journey home than she would like.  My family members and I are taking turns caring for her as she is in a lot of pain and unable to do much for herself.  I Love her Dearly and my heart hurts for her as she suffers and prays with all her heart to go home to Jesus.  Now as I was there, different ladies from her church were so sweet to come by and visit with her for a little while.  Some prayed for her, some even sang to her.  It was beautiful, however, as I listened, I heard many of them offering her the ever popular saying, "God will Never give you More than you can handle."  In fact, most would start that subject with something like..."Well you know what scripture says..."  I have to admit that before flying out to be with my grandma I had been with another young lady who had recently lost her husband.  I had heard other caring people offer her the same reminder.  Now, I have no doubt that everyone meant well, and that this saying was quoted out of a desire to comfort and encourage, but I have to tell you that I finally reached my limit and I had to say something as this is simply NOT biblical Truth!!  What made matters worse is that I could see their confusion in the pain of their suffering and it was easy to see the fact that through their tears they felt that this was in fact MORE than they could handle!!  Ever Been There??  Have you ever felt like what you are walking through is just too much for you?  I know I have and today I want to share the truth with you.  Are you ready?  Here it is...sometimes Life IS MORE than YOU can handle!!  You might be surprised to realize that the saying we've been discussing does not actually appear in the bible, and in fact it is on most lists of "Verses you won't find in the Bible."  The thought comes from a passage in 1 Cor. 10 where Paul shares with us that God will not allow us to be Tempted beyond what we can bear, and that when we are tempted, He will always provide a way of escape!  There is a Big difference between not being tempted beyond what we can bear, and God not giving us anything we can't handle!  I want to say right away that if you feel overloaded with the struggles you are facing it is okay to tell God that very truth!  In fact, one of the great gifts of realizing that what your walking through is too much for you to handle is that you are ready to TURN TO GOD!!!  I want to point out the danger of the fallacy that goes along with that saying because it actually goes against what God has been trying to get us to understand all throughout scripture.  When we say God won't give us More than we can handle, it points us toward SELF, and NOT towards GOD!  It makes us Self-Focused, instead of God-Focused.  we are turned INward instead of GODward!  It does this because it makes us think that if I have been given this trial to walk through than I Must be able to handle this ON MY OWN.  I must have what it takes.  I have the power, and the strength to do this because I will only be given what I can handle.  Do you see the danger and the false sense of security.  Not to mention that this way of thinking puts the weight of the world on OUR shoulders!  That is why Jesus says for us to come to HIM, all of us who are weary and heavy laden and HE will give us rest.  We are called to cast ALL our Anxieties on HIM because HE cares for us!  You see, all of this is too much for us to do on our own,  We can not keep from sinning on our own, we can not Love like Christ on our own, we can not save ourselves, heal ourselves, or redeem ourselves on our own, and we can not make it through the trials of this life (the ones we are promised will come) on our OWN!  WE NEED JESUS!!!  If we could handle life on our own we would have no need for a savior, but we can not handle life on our own and God has shown us that time and time again.  We are told that we can do All things THROUGH CHRIST who gives us strength!  Is. 40:28-31 says this:  "Have you not heard?  Have you never understood?  The Lord is the Everlasting God, the creator of all the earth.  HE NEVER grows weak or weary....HE gives power to the weak, and strength to the powerless.  Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.  But those who Trust IN THE LORD will find New strength.  They will soar high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint!"  This happens to be my grandma's favorite passage and one I was able to remind her of.  You see GOD is ABLE to make All Grace abound to you so that in everything you can have an abundance!  WITH GOD all things are possible.  NOT with ourselves!  If you are entering this week already feeling overwhelmed or like this is too much for you, I want to tell you some good news!!! It IS Too much for YOU, but it is NEVER TOO MUCH for our GOD!!!  GOD IS ABLE!!  There is such freedom in realizing that we can't handle life on our own and we are not meant to.  When you finally get to the end of yourself you can finally see what ONLY God can do in you! I want to encourage you this week to express to God what things in your life are just too much for you to handle.  Cast those cares on Him, and enter HIS rest.  Meditate on some of the verses we talked about today that point us GODward and not INward.  Let's be women who go beyond ourselves and experience what ONLY God can do!  When Life is too hard for you, He is the one who will carry you through!!  Sometimes that is the encouragement we need to offer to others, that and a loving shoulder to cry on.  I am so thankful that our God is ABLE!!!  "GOD is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble!!" - Ps. 46:1  

Thank you Jesus that no matter what, You can handle it!!

Verses to meditate on this week:  (I would encourage you to make note in your bibles of what God's part is in these verses and what your part is.)

Is. 40:28-31, Matt. 11:28, Phil. 4:13, 2 Cor. 9:8