In this episode, Skip Heitzig delves into the often misunderstood phrase, ‘God won’t give you more than you can handle.’ Through insightful discussions around biblical texts, Skip challenges this common adage, using compelling stories and personal anecdotes to illustrate the true nature of trials and temptations. Discover the difference between trials meant to strengthen your faith and temptations that could lead to a downfall, and learn how God provides strength and an escape from the grips of overpowering situations.
00:00:01 Introduction to Connect with Skip Heitzig
00:19:06 Relying on God During Overwhelming Trials
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This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. Here at Connect with Skip, our mission is to help you know God’s Word and apply it to your life through clear, practical Bible teaching and real encouragement every day. And if you’d like to keep growing in your walk with Jesus, sign up for Pastor Skip’s free weekly devotional. You’ll receive biblical insight, teaching highlights, Now, let me begin with a little fairy tale. Once upon a time, there was a stick.
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And the stick complained against its owner because its owner took the stick and took out his knife and cut on it, took out his drill and drilled holes in it. And so the little stick complained and whined and cried because of the pain and the torture that the owner was inflicting upon it. The owner, however, was much too wise to listen to the whines and cries and complaints of the little stick because the owner was making out of the stick a flute. He was transforming it into something. And so when the stick complained, the owner said, little stick, without these holes and without these cuts, you would just be a stick forever. You think I’m destroying you when in fact I am transforming you into something beautiful and your music will charm weary hearts. Your music will help those who are burdened. Your music will bless others. I’m guessing you don’t even have to have a show of hands. You felt a lot like the stick. at times in your life. You’ve wondered why God would allow the drilling, the cutting, the pain. You don’t see this, but He does. Now, there is a very common saying that we are addressing today, and we’re going to consider the statement, God won’t give you more than you can handle. You’ve heard it many times. I’m guessing you’ve even said it a few times. You’ve expected it on certain occasions. And yet, how many times have difficulties in your life not be one or two, but one upon another, upon another, upon another, where it’s like wave after wave of unrelenting pain, and you just want to lift your head and go, what up, God? Why this? Why me? Why now? Let me tell you about a story I found this week. It’s a true story of a young set of parents. They already had two children. Then they got pregnant again and had twins. So now they have four children. One of the twins had Down syndrome. Shortly after the delivery, and they’re coming to the understanding that they have a special needs child, That’s when COVID-19 hit. So now they have to take the older kids who have been at school and take them home and teach them at home themselves while breastfeeding twins, one with special needs. Well, shortly after that, the other twin, the one that did not have Down syndrome, was discovered to have a very rare disease called that required multiple surgeries. And then in between one of our two surgeries, in between a couple of different surgeries that I said there were multiple of those, the child that had Down syndrome started having seizures to the point where that child required hospitalization. Now the set of parents believed in God. They loved God. They followed Jesus. But they felt this was unbearable for them. Their friends would come alongside of them and say, don’t worry, God won’t give you more than you can handle. Those words sort of rung hollow to them. So they write about the situation. These parents wrote this. The truth is God does give us what we cannot handle. There are times when God puts us in situations that are legitimately impossible to handle on our own. We don’t have the capacity, the strength, or the resources. We feel the weight of the burdens taking us down. We are swept under powerful waves, and we are gasping for air. Why me? Why this? Why now? God won’t give you more than you can handle is conventional wisdom masquerading as biblical truth. To get down to the real truth, we have to make four adjustments in our thinking. And I want to do that with you in our passage in 1 Corinthians and then some verses in 2 Corinthians. First of all, let’s look at the verse itself from which this idea, this statement comes. It’s a misunderstood verse. It’s in 1 Corinthians 10. Verse 13, I hope you have a Bible or you can look at one for a moment, even if it’s your friend or your neighbor or your spouse or the new friend you’re about to make because you’re looking at their Bible. Verse 13 says this, No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted, Beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. That sounds sort of like it, doesn’t it? Sounds similar. But remember what we told you last week about context. You never interpret a text apart from its context, because if you do that, you form a proof text. And you can make the Bible say anything you want. Context is important, and context is what is around the text. So what is Paul speaking about? Look at verse 13. What is the second word in the verse? Good. A few of you have a Bible, and you can read it. So I heard a couple faint temptation answers, and that is correct. He’s speaking about temptation. No temptation. What Paul is dealing with here is not general trial, suffering, hardship. He is dealing specifically with temptation. And the word is very precise. It means tempting with a view toward destroying. Tempting with a view toward destroying. So here’s the context. Chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians says, Paul the apostle looks back to the children of Israel being delivered from Egypt, wandering through the wilderness for how many years? 40 years. It was not a good time in their history. In fact, they were tempted in many different ways and they fell to those temptations many different times. I just want you to notice a couple of verses. They were tempted to crave after evil things. Look at verse six. Now these things became our examples. to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. They were also tempted to practice idolatry. Look at verse 7. Do not become idolaters as some of them were. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. They were also tempted in the area of sexual immorality. Verse 8 says, nor let us commit sexual immorality as some of them did. And in one day, 23,000 fell. They were also tempted to complain because they thought God wasn’t keeping his end of the deal. Look at verse 10. Nor complain as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer. So what are we dealing with here? Temptation. Temptation. And it’s all about temptation to sin, not experiencing trial. Verse 11, now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the age have come. Then look at verse 14, the verse after the verse in question. He says, therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. So here’s what I want you to understand from this chapter. Paul is dealing with the temptation he sees in the Corinthian church to copy their culture, to act like the world that is around them. Those are temptations to do evil, not hardship in general, but temptations by the devil to do evil. And he says in verse 13, the verse we’re dealing with, no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. Anthropinos is the word translated common to man. It means suited to man. It means tailor-made for humanity. Do you know that Satan tailor-makes things? attacks and temptations for your life. He has studied humanity. He knows what your weak spot is and he tailor makes a temptation to you. And it’s common to man. You are not tempted because you are evil. You are tempted because you are human. The only people that do not get tempted are dead people. So temptations are normal. You are not unique. It’s not like, well, you know, I get tempted in a whole different way than anybody else on earth gets tempted. Or we fall back to our little excuses like, well, you know, I have a temper because I’m Irish. Or, you know, I’m hot-blooded, I’m Hispanic. Or, you know, I’m just kind of really weird about putting everything in its place because I’m German or whatever it might be. Temptations are normal. All believers of all ages… have had to face and resist temptation, and here’s Paul’s greater point, so you can too. It’s common to man.
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This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. When you give to this ministry, you help reach thousands of people every day with God’s life-changing truth, encouraging them to know Him, trust Him, and walk in His freedom. And this month, we want to thank you with a special resource package. You’ll receive Skip’s book, Biography of God, which helps you explore God’s nature, His power, the mystery of the Trinity, and the hope that comes from removing the false limitations we sometimes place on Him. Plus, you’ll get Skip’s six-message CD series, Expound Galatians, where Skip unpacks the book of Galatians and the freedom believers have through grace, not works. Your gift today helps bring the life-changing message of Jesus to people around the world through Connect with Skip. Request your resources when you give $50 or more at connectwithskip.com slash offer or by calling 800-922-1888. Now, here’s more from Pastor Skip.
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But Dan, I love this little bit in verse 13. But God is faithful. who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape. Interesting little phrase, the way of escape means a way out of a mountain pass. It was used of an army when surrounded suddenly saw a way out of the situation and they took it. So what he means by this verse is when you get tempted to do evil, God will give you what is necessary to resist it. You don’t have to give in to it. As John Stott wrote, sin is inevitable, but it is never necessary. So If and when you are tempted by the devil, God will give you the resources to resist the temptation. So that is the verse in question, the misunderstood, misapplied verse, God won’t give you more than you can handle, comes from this verse. It is just usually misinterpreted. Now let’s consider the statement itself, that God won’t give you more than you can handle. I think it’s a misguided statement. It sounds reasonable. like something God would say. It sounds nice. I mean, it’s kind of like we’re helping God out a little bit. He’s got a lot of people who don’t believe in him. At least if we say, look, follow God because he won’t give you more than you can handle. That’s a plus for God. He’ll get more followers that way. Here’s the problem. How many times have you felt like you are dealing with more than you can handle? In your life experience, you feel overwhelmed. So what is wrong with this statement per se? God won’t give you more than you can handle. Well, I can think of three things that are wrong with the statement. Number one, this statement, when we say it diminishes God’s person, diminishes God’s principles, diminishes God’s power. Let me unpack that. Let me explain that. When we make the statement, God won’t give you more than you can handle, we are diminishing God’s person. We are taking God off his throne of sovereignty, and we are bringing him down to a level of a biased person who gives special favors to his kids. And if that were the case, if you could go up to people and say, you know, you ought to follow God, because yeah, it’s really bad out there in the world, but if you follow God, he won’t give you more than you can handle. well, then you’re going to have a lot of people following God for all the wrong reasons. Okay, I want a free pass. You know, when I pray and I’m sick, I’ll get healed if I follow God, right? Or I’ll get an A on the test if I pray hard enough. Or I’ll get a parking space at the mall during Christmas season because I follow God and he won’t give me more than I can handle. I am diminishing his person. Second, when I make this statement, I am diminishing God’s principles. When we make this statement, it sounds fair to us. It’s sort of like if you were telling your kids to carry boxes and load them in the car. If you tell your kids that, I will guarantee that as a parent, you are making visual weight assessments. You are factoring in their age, their strength, so that you don’t overload them with too much weight more than they can carry, more than they can handle. So to say God won’t give you more than you can handle strikes a tone of fairness that we like. Yeah, that sounds reasonable. That sounds fair. I mean, after all, if God assesses that we cannot carry certain trials, it would be unfair for God to give us those trials, right? Here’s the problem with that. Once we start talking about fairness, we have a huge theological problem because God has already been very unfair with us. Let me explain. He made Jesus pay for all your sins. That’s unfair. He gave you His perfect righteousness. That’s unfair. You don’t deserve that. He promised heaven forever for you. Unfair. Isaiah 55 tells us, My thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord, nor are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours. The third thing that this little statement has wrong about it is that we diminish God’s power. Now, have you ever noticed something about suffering? It never emails you or texts you to ask if you’ve got time for it. It never warns you in advance. It just sort of, here I come, ready your night. Just invade your life. Never ask permission. And that’s because there’s never a good time for your life to be wrecked. That’s why when your life is wrecked, By an overwhelming trial, you ask why. Why this? Why me? Why now? The statement, God will never give you more than you can handle, does something. It turns you inward. It turns you inward and you think thoughts like, I must have what it takes. I must be pretty awesome. Because this is hard and God must know that I can handle this. Because if God permits trials according to my ability, I must be like a student in spiritual school because I can handle this or I am handling this. No, whatever God gives you to handle, it is not to highlight your power. It is to highlight his power, as we’ll see in a minute. Psalm 46 says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Isaiah 40, 29, he gives power to the faint and to him who has no might. He increases strength. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. You know the rest of that beautiful verse. So the answer is not within. The answer is above. We shouldn’t turn inward. We should turn upward. It’s not according to our strength. It’s according to his strength. And when we are overwhelmed by a trial we cannot handle, it’s so that we realize, I don’t have what it takes. I don’t have what it takes. Don’t you love? Psalm 121, I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. So, beloved, God may give you more than you can handle, but it’s never more than he can handle. And that’s something we need to tap into. So what I’d like to do now is show you a missing perspective in all this. And I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians. Just make your way over to 2 Corinthians 1. We’re going to actually put some of these verses up on the screen. But here’s what I want you to know about 2 Corinthians. You know, you look at 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and go, I don’t know what the difference is, except one has a 1, one has a 2. Very different books. 2 Corinthians is more like Paul’s personal journal. He’s very honest in 2 Corinthians. He’s very human. You see him in weakness. You see him in humility. He’s unvarnished. He’s raw in 2 Corinthians. In chapter 1, he talks about despairing even of life. In chapter 4, hard-pressed on every side and perplexed. In chapter 6, he speaks about imprisonments, distresses, and needs. One commentator, Homer Kent, said, 2 Corinthians is the most personal and revealing document we have from the pen of the apostle Paul. In chapter 1, he gives us perspective. And there’s a couple of different lines of perspective I think we need to have about suffering and living life more than we can handle. First is an internal perspective. The second is an eternal perspective. Let’s begin with the internal perspective. 2 Corinthians 1, verses 8 and 9 in the New International Version. We’ll put them up on the screen. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure. Watch this. Watch this. Far beyond our ability to endure. Sounds like he’s saying God just gave him more than he can handle, right? Far beyond our ability to endure so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. Okay, that sounds pretty bad. Hey, Paul, how bad was it? It was so bad that I thought I was going to die. Next on the agenda was my death. I despaired even of life. I had the sentence of death in myself. You go on in this book and he starts filling in some of the blanks. We won’t turn to it, but he will write in a couple of verses about this period in his life. He says, in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently. From the Jews, five times I received 40 stripes minus one. Anybody ever see Passion of the Christ? How Jesus was beaten to a pulp in that movie? Paul had that happen to him five times in his life. This is the Apostle Paul. This is God’s number one guy. I was beaten three times with rods. Once I was stoned. That means stones were thrown at him, not he got stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and day I have been in the deep. What I want you to notice about… what we just read together in 2 Corinthians 1, is that Paul gives the reason God allowed him to have more than he can handle. And that is this. God stripped away from him everything, every solution, every resource, so that he realized, I got nothing. I can’t fix this. I cannot fix this. I have no resource to make this situation any better. Next on the agenda, I die. We have a word for this. We call it brokenness. A person who is in a pit of despair, they’re broken. It drives them to a deeper dependence on God, the deepest possible dependence.
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Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember, your generosity helps share God’s Word around the world, bringing truth and hope to people who need Jesus. And this month, we’d love to thank you for your support by sending you a special resource bundle, Skip’s book, Biography of God, along with his six-message CD series, Expound Galatians. Together, these resources help you explore who God really is and how to live in the spiritual freedom He offers. Give today at connectwithskiff.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time on Connect with Skip. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God’s never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
