Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ 1 Corinthians

[Isaiah]

Need help understanding the passage in scripture where God says he won’t give you anything you can’t handle?

So that isn’t meant for life situations right? My mom treats me like I’m an idiot sometimes because I don’t have blind faith that my life will magically work out because “God won’t give you what you can’t handle”. I’ve always thought it meant that if you really are repentant of a sin, God will navigate you through it by hook or by crook because He wants you to turn away from sin. I ask because I’m literally not handling my life right now at all. I ask and ask God to help and I’m not hearing anything. I’m also pretty mentally ill with bipolar disorder and adhd, so again...can’t handle jobs, friendships, etc. and the healthcare where I live is a joke. I feel like if I’ve been interpreting this incorrectly it’ll give me some peace of mind, because I am not able to handle my life...and neither are children with cancer, abuse victims who never break free, etc., and I don’t know if we should always say “oh it was God’s plan and He won’t give them anything they can’t handle”. Anyway! Sorry for the complicated question but I could use some insight.

[jimwalton]

You're referring to 1 Corinthians 10.13: "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."

I've heard this claim many times also ("God will never give you anything you can't handle"), but you'll notice right off the bat that's not what the verse says. The verse says that God gives you a way to deal with temptation so you can resist it, but not that He'll never give you anything you can't handle.

Sorry you're having the struggle you're having. It's sounds intense and upsetting to you. If you are bipolar and have ADHD, you have your hands full. Sorry it's so rough. But the Bible never says that God will never give you anything you can't handle. On the other hand, there's no reason to think God is giving you these things: bipolar, ADHD, problems with jobs, friendships, health insurance, etc. We are wrong to think God is orchestrating everything, and that nothing happens without Him making it happen (that's another Christian cliche I don't buy: "God is in control." It makes it sound like everything is God's doing, but that's not a biblical position. It also makes God into a monster, which is also not a biblical position.).

I've also prayed a lot and never heard anything. Prayer is mostly for me to talk to God, not for Him to talk to me. I also find that prayer is not mostly about asking for stuff. It's just about communicating with God and being friends with Him, not treating Him like Santa Claus.

I think we do a great injustice telling people God will never give them anything they can't handle. I've known families where members suffered through terrible medical conditions and died, where one member of the family got killed and his sister went into a mental hospital because she couldn't deal with it, where a pastor's son committed suicide, and so many people. A lot happens in life that is beyond our ability to cope. Paul says as much in 2 Corinthians 1.8: "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, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself."

Instead of counting on God to not give us more than we can handle, we need to learn to ground ourselves in God when it's far more than we can handle (2 Cor. 1.9-10: "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. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us."

You may want to talk more about this. Free free to write back.

[Isaiah]

Ok, so this answered my question exactly. It’s like you read my mind. Thank you so much for your help. One thing I still don’t understand- if God doesn’t necessarily intervene, what is the point of grounding ourselves in God when life gets to be too much? Maybe I just don’t have a great understanding of who God is? That does help me not resent God on the other hand. I’ve always heard in church and from my family that God made me special and has a plan for my life, and that I just need to keep asking what it is and keep living a Christian lifestyle until I find out. I always would scream (internally) this is your plan? You planned for me to not have the tools I need to survive in this world? So that shift in perspective makes it easier for me to step back and stop blaming God. However, why would I lean into God when I’m going through a rough time if this is the case?

[jimwalton]

Great questions. Thanks for the conversation.

> if God doesn’t necessarily intervene, what is the point of grounding ourselves in God when life gets to be too much?

We ground ourselves in God because that is our appropriate station. It is where we were created to be. It is where we find meaning and become whole. It is where we find salvation from sin and true life. We don't ground ourselves in God to necessarily help us with our circumstances, to make life easier for us, or for our immediate benefit. Ultimately, grounding ourselves will work to our benefit (Rom. 8.28), but that's because it is where we were created to be, not because it makes life easier.

When we read the first 2/3 of Hebrews 11, we read all these stories of strength and faith. But then you get to verses 33b-40 and it's a different story. And yet, nothing has changed. God is making us into His image (Rom. 8.29), and that's the point, not our circumstances. God is bringing us to the place where we are achieving our right place in relationship to God (Heb. 11.40). He is teaching us to live above life, to think and act as He thinks and acts (Rom. 12.1-2). It's not to say that all the stuff you are going through and experiencing doesn't matter or isn't hard. It really does matter, and it's really really hard to deal with. But God has a grand picture in mind that suffers with you, redeems you from suffering, uses your suffering to some position of strength (2 Cor. 12.9), and teaches you how to live in a whole different perspective (Phil. 1.20-21; Phil. 3.4-16; 2 Cor. 1.3-11).

> That does help me not resent God on the other hand.

Several years back I went through an extremely difficult time in my life, a horrendously deep and dark depression. I almost walked away from Christianity. I pondered suicide. My anger at God was fierce, and I didn't hold back from telling Him so. I was an emotional mess, a spiritual war zone, and it was affecting me physically as well.

During that time I sought God with an insane intensity. I read the Bible and books like a starving man. I prayed like a madman. The more I read and prayed the worse it got. I was journaling at the time, and reading my entries from then is quite uncomfortable. I was so angry at God, and every day made it worse, until I was ready to kill myself. The more I sought Him and came up dark and empty, the more I resented Him. But I never gave up. I couldn't get around the resurrection (I knew it was true), and so I knew God was real, and so I kept seeking, praying, reading, crying, and screaming. It was the most awful time of my life. It lasted about 3 years.

One day I remember having an observation that both helped me and just about did me in. I had a eureka moment where I realized that all of the thoughts I had been having were lies from the pit of hell. I had been filling my own mind with all kinds of false thoughts that I couldn't escape. That was a light for me in a very dark tunnel. But at the same time I realized that God had let Satan fill my head with all these lies exactly at the time I needed God to be showing me truth. I was angry I could have killed Him. How dare He let Satan fill my head with lies when I was so desperate for truth and health, so needed God and help. Of all the nasty things. And to think I almost left the faith and left this life. But I didn't. God made sure I didn't. I didn't know it, but He was holding me.

From that time on I started having more positive experiences. When I would read the Bible, I'd go, "Oh, I see now." I slowly started to understand and to put pieces together. Over the course of many more months and years, I came to more and more understanding, left the period of depression behind, found the truth about God, and have been growing ever since.

The reasons I tell this story are these: First of all, it turns out that God was at work in my life when I didn't have a clue. At my darkest times, I can affirm (now, though I certainly couldn't see it at the time) that God was there. Second, when I read my journal from that era, I can see that despite the fact that I was going through more horrible stuff than I ever want to know, I can read some really important spiritual lessons I was learning. What I mean to say is that, on reflection as I look back at it, it was both the worst and some of the best times of my life. As far as anything I could see or feel, it was the absolute worst. Horrific emotional suffering. But I'm also aware I probably learned more spiritual truths during that era than at any other time of my life.

So where do I go with that? I never want to go through that again, ever, but it was a time in my life when I probably learned more than I have during the rest of my life combined.

> why would I lean into God when I’m going through a rough time if this is the case?

I hope I've addressed this.

We can talk more if you want.