Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. (2 Samuel 7:22 ESV)
One of the sayings that goes around Christian culture is God will never give you more than you can handle. So, if that is what your faith is built on, what happens to your faith when you are living through a time which feels like MUCH more than you can handle? Ask any mom who has 3 or more kids under the age of 7. Ask any grandparent raising their grandchildren because the parents can’t. Ask anyone who has just received a terminal diagnosis for their loved one. How do you “handle” that?
When the Apostle Paul was writing his second letter to the Corinthian church, he wrote to these Christian brothers and sisters and told them of the great trials he had endured. He says they were “burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.” (2 Corinthians 1:8 NKJV)
There are times in life when we face challenges that truly are more than we can bear—burdens that exceed our strength and push us to the brink of despair. It’s in these moments that God steps in. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:9 (NKJV), “We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead… in whom we trust that He will still deliver us.”
Paul reminds us to rely on God in our most difficult circumstances. I believe that God does allow us to face more than we can handle on our own—but he also gives us the grace we need to endure what we cannot carry alone.
When we put the above verse in context, we hear hope.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.
We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety. (2 Corinthians 1:3-11 NLT)
Our God uses our circumstances to call us to trust him and to bring us closer to him. Praise God! Today, may God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You are our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. You comfort us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When we suffer for Christ, we pray you will shower us with your comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, may we remember that it is for our comfort and salvation! Help us to see you as our HOPE in the circumstances that lead to being overwhelmed or despairing. Help us to patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that you, Lord God, are great; there is no one like you. We trust you and put our hope in you. In Jesus’s name we pray, AMEN.