So, does God give us more than we can bear?
Many have been blessed by a wonderful little book entitled “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young.  One commenter has already mentioned this devotional entry from August 18^th:
“EXPECT TO ENCOUNTER ADVERSITY in your life, remembering that you live in a deeply fallen world. Stop trying to find a way that circumvents difficulties. The main problem with an easy life is that it masks your need for Me. When you became a Christian, I infused My very Life into you, empowering you to live on a supernatural plane by depending on Me.
Anticipate coming face-to-face with impossibilities: situations totally beyond your ability to handle. This awareness of your inadequacy is not something you should try to evade. It is precisely where I want you–the best place to encounter Me in My Glory and Power. When you see armies of problems marching toward you, cry out to Me! Allow Me to fight for you.”
Do you see an additional problem to the idea that God will not Give you more than you can bear… or even allow you to face more than you can bear?
As one author noted about children – “Our children need to be needy so that they will need God.”  (Kathy Collard Miller).
We need to face more than we can bear… so we can be reminded that there is one who will bear things with us and for us.  Could we be courageous enough to actually ask God for more than we can bear?
Look, I don’t want to be cheesy here, but if my office burned to the ground, one of the few things that would survive would be a little Scottish man that my in-laws gave me.  Why?  Because he is ceramic.  He knows fire.  He came from fire.   If we are going to face what we are going to face, we had better go ahead and get used to the fact that we are going to face more than we can bear.
That is why we need a savior.  Because we face more than we can bear.
We are just big balls of grief rolling around gathering new grief… that we don’t get over, but we do get used to.
But we have someone who will bear it with us… for us.  Here is a verse about burdens:
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, ⁷ casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (I Peter 5:6-7)  Guess what you cast onto others?  Burdens.  Things we can bear.
So, in summary, isn’t what we should be saying to someone (especially when it is us) who faces the storm, the nightmare, the cataclysm, and even the end, actually be the statement…
“God will never give you more than
HE can bear?”
Ok, one more to come next week… but I think I want to stop here for today.