More Than We Can Bear

“God will never give us more than we can handle….”

This phrase is uttered in the midst of our darkest hours; like a magical verse from the Bible reserved for those bleak situations so tragic they are beyond comprehension.

I hate it.

More than the sentence itself, I hate that I may have uttered it at some point; when my knees buckle at the tragic news and I stumble around for just the right thing to say.

But this isn’t it.

Perhaps you have also heard this statement, specially delivered in hushed tones meant to somehow bring comfort in the midst of unwelcome trials and tribulation.

This doesn’t bring comfort.

These words are meant to instill a vote of confidence in a person’s ability to cope.

Translated, it says simply, “You’re so strong. Only you can handle this terrible thing God is doing.”

The problem is that it delivers the blame squarely in God’s lap for whatever bad thing that chose us. As if He was bored one day and decided to play a dirty trick on us; to squeeze a little tighter just to see f we implode.

These words bring a stream of questions that demand answers from God Himself.

Though He can handle such questions and knows the depths of our hearts, if comfort is what we seek, “Help me, Lord” is a better way to start the conversation than hurling blame in His direction.

The good news is that this misused and misquoted ‘verse’ is found nowhere in the Bible.

Thank goodness.

What is there is the story of Jesus and how He conquered those darkest moments head on so He could relate to us when we had to face them.

One of the most heartbreaking stories of Jesus, to me, is just before his crucifixion. In Mark 14:64-65, Jesus had been captured and turned over to the soldiers for his death to be carried out. But first, they blindfold him and took turns punching him over and over again.

Intense hits from every direction. Without warning.

That’s exactly how life feels sometimes. And no one understands that more than Jesus.

I’ve seen it in the eyes of my husband as he and his brother dropped the first few shovels of dirt on their father’s grave, long before they were ready.

I’ve felt it in the tears of those who had just received the shocking diagnosis of the final stages of cancer.

I’ve heard it in the dying heartbeat of a shattered marriage.

The truth is that sometimes, life is too much for us to handle.

But we were not designed to go through it alone.

“Bear one another’s burdens,” He tells us.

Maybe the best way to do that is to kneel beside someone in the midst of his darkest hour.

And say nothing at all.

 

 

Janet Morris Grimes

Janet Morris Grimes earliest childhood memories were spent creating fairy-tale stories of the father she never knew. That desire to connect with the mysterious man in a treasured photograph gave her a deep love for the endless possibilities of a healing and everlasting story. A wife of one, mother of three, and Tootsie to four, Janet currently writes from her quiet two-acre corner of the world near Elizabethtown, KY. She has spent the last few years preparing to introduce her novels and children’s stories to the world. Her debut novel, Solomon's Porch, was released in August of '21 and is now available on Amazon. For additional information on Janet, visit her website at http://janetmorrisgrimes.com.

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