Did God really say, "I will never put more on your shoulders than what you can handle"?
This morning, I had this conversation with my husband. I told him, God will never put more on your shoulders than what you can handle and he told me that wasn't Biblical. Huh? That stopped me in my tracks and I was determined to show him that yes indeed this was Scriptural. Guess what? I was wrong. Gulp, I have yet to apologize to my husband as I kind of got lost doing some research and here is what I found.
1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Notice in this verse it says tempted not bare. This verse is talking about idolatry. The temptation that is mentioned is the one to abandon God to other things, like other gods, sex, etc., and how God has provided for us a way out. James 4:7 tells us how. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Psalm 68:19-20 NIV
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
who daily bears our burdens.
Our God is a God who saves;
from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.
Psalm 68 is talking about sin and God's provision from escaping the effects of sin, eternal death, not from a stressful job, disease, financial dept or a poor relationship.
The opposite of the statement, 'God will never put more on your shoulders than what you can handle', is 'God will put more on you, in order to crush you.' This statement is true.
Hebrews 12:4-7 NIV
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?
So, it would be better to say that God will not put more on us than what Jesus can bare. And, my friend, He can bare A LOT. Actually, He bares all things.
Romans 5:1-5 NIV
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Isaiah 53:4-6 NIV
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
You see, Jesus has taken it ALL for us. He is our burden bearer and when the load it just too heavy, we go to Him and ask Him to help us and He will. Jesus beckons us to come to Him. And I believe He does this in order for us sinful, prideful people to search Him out.
Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
The call for the Christian is to suffer and to bear the cross that we have been given or to take up the cross and help someone else.
Matthew 16:24-25 NIV
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it."
Today, people think that the Christian life is easy, a breeze, if you become a Christians your life will be full of Bible studies, get togethers and no financial issues. But, that is not the case at all. If you think this then you are believing a lie. The Christian life is hard, tough and if you are following God in a close walk then you will be persecuted and pursued by Satan. Satan wants to shut the Christian up and by the looks of our world, he has done a pretty good job at it.
The wonderful thing is God pursues us too! He sent His Son for us and if you read some of the Old Testament stories you will see that God does indeed pursue. Just go read the story of Jonah and just how far Father went to seek after him.
Luke 19:10 NIV
"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
John 6:44 NIV
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day."
Although Satan attacks us, God has promised us a way out. Humble yourself and submit to God, resist the devil and he will leave, James 4:7. This is a spiritual war and a Christian that is fighting and wearing their armour are sure of attacks. Jesus is a Warrior Himself and if we keep ourselves in alignment with His Word, then He will protect us and crush the area we are fighting in of the influence of the devil.
Galatians 6:2 NIV
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Christians are to bear each others burdens. We are to pray for one another and help one another out. If you see your brother struggling financially, help him out. If you see a homeless person hungry, feed them. We are the hands and feet of Jesus and we are to do His work while we are here on earth. There are many people out there who don't know God and His awesome promises and love, we need to spread His word and the best way to do this is by preaching His Word followed by spreading His love in our actions.
So the statement, God will not put more on your shoulders than what you can bare is 100% false. That in itself is a god, the god of self, thinking that we can bare the burden of sin. That we, in our own strength, can walk through this life and come out victor. No way! If God found it pleasing to crush His own Son, then it is pleasing for Him to crush us too. For if we turn to Him and seek Him He will help us during this trial just like He helped Jesus while He hung on the cross.
Proverbs 8:14 NIV
I love those who love me,
and those who seek me find me.
Reference: Misused Bible Verses
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