God Will Never Give You More Than You Can Handle?

“God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

Many Christians repeat this phrase, but the Bible never actually says it. In this episode, we examine what 1 Corinthians 10:13 truly teaches and why this common saying can create confusion about suffering, temptation, and reliance on God.

We also explore passages where both Paul and Jesus acknowledge that life will bring trials beyond our strength and why those moments are meant to drive us toward dependence on God rather than ourselves.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hey, hey, it's Seriously Says Podcast. And today we're actually going to start kind of a mini-series over um kind of the, I don't want to say things the Bible doesn't say, but things that are misinterpreted.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

That the Bible does say, but we interpret them the wrong way.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Well, some of them the Bible just doesn't say, actually. Like this one that we're going to talk about today, which I'm happy to introduce because it really gets on my nerves anytime people say it, is God won't give you more than you can handle. That's not in there anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Yeah, it isn't.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

No, it's not. But to your point, it is a uh misinterpretation of a scripture that is there. And um, the scripture that they misinterpret is 1 Corinthians 10, 13 that says, 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 of escape so that you can endure it. And someone might say, Okay, well, you're splitting hairs, you're talking about temptations versus, you know, bearing more than you can handle. But in this case, semantics is everything. Right. You know, if if you don't get the grasp the true understanding of what this scripture is saying, I think there are a few problems with it. As you can see, I have my computer, so I have a few notes about what those problems are. But um, but I'm curious, why do you think this has transformed from temptation to just anything?

SPEAKER_00 1:40

I mean, I think it's easy to look at that and be like, okay, so he won't give me more than I can bear. We skip out on the part where at the end it it does say that, you know, he will make a way out for us, which is his strength is perfect and our weakness, right? Um, I think that people read that and they don't go all the way till the end. They stop at the comma. I'm assuming there's a comma there. They stop with the comma. There could be a comma.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

And there is a comma. There you go. Yeah. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

They stop at the comma instead of reading all the way through to realize that um we're going to be tempted. Um, but he will be the strength for us in those temptations.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Right.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Rather than just thinking, oh, well, I'm gonna be tempted, but it's not gonna be that bad. I got us.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Right. And and you know, the other thing that I think is an issue with it beyond just that, beyond not reading all the way to the end, is that temptation is only one kind of struggle that we deal with. Right. You know, that's very specific. That's saying that he will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. And to your point, it's not so much that we can bear it, it's that he's providing a way out anytime temptation comes along. Right. Because if he doesn't provide the way out, then we're doomed. Um, but there are other things that we go through in life, right? Like things way outside of our control, things that aren't temptations, loss of life, um, you lose your job, you know, just a whole bunch of horrible things that can happen in this world that has nothing to do with temptation. And I think if you try to apply that scripture in particular to all of life's circumstances, you're setting yourself up for an unrealistic expectation of God.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Yeah, but I do think something rings true to that scripture, regardless of circumstance, that his strength is perfect in our weakness. So whether it is a temptation we're facing, or whether it is something catastrophic, loss of life, those kind of things, um, the sadness or the burdens that that you may carry, his strength is still perfect in our weakness. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

And I agree with that. What I don't agree with is God won't give you more than you can handle. Right. Because a lot of the things that we deal with are more than we can handle. The very fact that we need um God to come in and be our strength is because the thing is more than we can handle. And I think if if someone hears that, especially a new believer, that okay, God's not going to give me any more than what I can handle.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Buckle up.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Right. And then they start going through a hard thing.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

I feel like the very natural response for them would be to say, Well, God didn't hold up on his word. And that's a dangerous thing because God didn't say that.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

God said, or the Bible says that, to your point, God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. It doesn't say that he won't give us more than we can handle. And I think, you know, there are definitely things that, you know, God is not doing this to us. You know, that's another thing that I feel like we do when we uh we say about God whenever we go with this statement is that we're almost saying that if bad things happen, God's doing it to us. We live in a fallen world. We live uh in a world where people have free will. The things that happen to us, does God allow it? Yes, but it doesn't mean that he's the author of it. And sometimes when those things happen, people look at God and be like, okay, well, God must have done this to me because God will never give me anything more than I can handle. So if I can't handle it, God must have done it. And I think that's a dangerous line of thought to be in. Um, but it's an unrealistic expectation because Jesus said in this life you will have uh trials.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

I mean, well, he himself was tempted to show us you can get through it.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Right. He was. He also went to the cross, which, you know, I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem like a fun day.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

And it did not end well technically, right, from a from a fleshly standpoint.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Exactly. If it had been any of us that had gone to the cross, it would have been a very, very different story, not a good day. Um, and so I I think when we do that, sometimes we we set people up to think they're not going to go through anything hard in this life. And that's just not true.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

And speaking of, when I think about um, you know, him going to the cross, I think sometimes we we do look at it as had it been us, it would have been different. But he was fully flesh amongst us. So every pain and every suffering that came from it, he endured all of it. Sure. All of it on that cross. It wasn't like, oh, it wasn't that bad for him because you know, he was Jesus. No, he endured all of it, just like you would in the flesh. And I bet you that was really hard.

unknown 6:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

But he did it. Yeah. And he showed that he could do it.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Right. And it was after he did that that he sent his spirit, which empowers us now to be able to do that, which going back to the actual scripture is he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, because he will provide a way out through his spirit. And um, but it doesn't mean that you didn't have to deal with the temptation. It doesn't mean that you don't have to deal with the hardship. And that hardship may be beyond what you can bear. You know, it makes me think about um a mother who loses a child. That's an unbearable situation. Without God, most women won't recover, most people won't recover from the loss of a child. Um, when you lose someone dear to you, um, when your sense of security is shattered because you've lost your only source of income, and then your homeowner's insurance goes up 50%. You know, those kinds of things that are will rattle your faith. You know, if you don't have God to walk you through those things, they're absolutely things that you cannot bear. Right. You know, um, we're we're living in a world where people are looking for coping mechanisms all the time, whether that is uh drugs or that is alcohol or it's sex or whatever it is, people are always looking for something because we're going through things that are hard to deal with. And we know that we can't do it in our own strength, but we have found that solution in God.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

You know, and so I think we don't, it's particularly for new believers, I don't think we set them up well when these are the kinds of misinterpretations of scripture that we give them.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Right. And I I do think that something that I think about when I think about temptations or things we've walked through, I often like when maybe I tell my testimony or I talk through things, people are like, How did you how did you how did you get through that? And it's always like the same thing. I leaned on God. Right, that's what I did. I leaned on him the entirety of the situation. That's that was how I made it through every single time. And I will say from when you start, and like I don't want to say this is just because you're a new believer, but as you get used to navigating those temptations, you get used to navigating those life circumstances and leaning on God and get used to that, things don't seem to feel as cr catastrophic as they are really in the flesh. Like there are some things that it's like that happened. Like, are you okay? And you're like, No, I'm good. God's got this. You know, I know there's nothing I can do, I know there's nothing in my strength that I can do to fix this, but I do know that God's got this. Um it it becomes easier and easier.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Right. And and I think the key in that is because you recognize that you can't do it and that you give it over to God. But if you've if you've bought into this idea that God won't give you more than you can handle, then that's a recipe for striving. That's a recipe for trying to figure it out yourself, because I should be able to handle it, therefore I should be able to fix it.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

And uh no, that never works, it doesn't work that way.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

And um, you know, we've we've talked a lot about, you know, just what we think about it, right? But you know me. I'm always like, let's go to the Bible. So the same author of that uh of that scripture that's taken out of context is Paul. It's that scripture is in 1 Corinthians uh 10, 13. Paul also says in 2 Corinthians 1, 8 through 9, we don't want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great uh pressure, far beyond our bill 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. And I don't think that you should ever tell someone that first thing without going to that next scripture. Because the very person who said that there's not going to be a temptation that comes that you don't have a way out for is the one who said, I was going through something to the point where I wanted to die. But I had to rely on God, and I relied on God, and we came through it. He's setting the example right there. It's not that we have the strength, it's that we have a God who has the strength, power even over death.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Who works on our behalf. You don't get that with God won't give you more than you can handle.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Hmm. We could have just said those two things and been done.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

We could, but we need to.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

What more is there to say?

SPEAKER_01 11:38

We needed it to be more than a five-minute long video.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Um, but you know, and and again, this is really something that should be an encouragement. Like, it's not a discouragement. Like, I don't want this series where we talk about things that are not in the Bible to be a discouragement. On the contrary, I want it to be equipping people with the real knowledge of what God has said, right? Because it's a tool that they can use. Because you will fail trying to do everything in your own strength, but you will succeed if you know that you have a God who fights for you that you can rely on. So I think that's why it's important to me at least, um, for us to do this this series on things that are not in the Bible and kind of uh set the record straight.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Because you don't know what you don't know.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Literally.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

You can't use, yeah, and you can't use tools you don't have. Um, and so you know the Bible is is is powerful, it's mighty, it's alive. And um, when we have the words of God, when we have the words of Jesus, it helps us to navigate this life in a way that we will never do, just going on our own logic or our own thought process or other people's interpretation of what scripture says. Um, it just doesn't work.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Yeah, because if you think that being a Christian means that you will never have a hard time and nothing bad will ever happen to you, and life's just gonna be butterflies and rainbows. Buckle up buttercup. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. That's not how that works.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

It doesn't work that way for anyone.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

No, it doesn't.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

But it especially does not work that way for us.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Now, I do believe we do walk in favor.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

So, so I don't want you to think we're not saying that because you do walk in favor. Um, but some of that like walking in favor is when these bad situations do happen, and maybe you are tempted in those kind of things and you lean on God, that what you see come from that is astonishing. And what you see come from that is a testimony itself where you know people are like, Well, what happened? You know, how did how did that happen? You know, when you when you're walking in the favor of the Lord. Um I think we've talked about we're both on the worship team and whatnot. And I know recently someone was saying, Madison, every time like you're leading catastrophe comes, you know, like something crazy is gonna happen. And um, and they were talking like we're gonna fast for three days before we we show up to worship with you. And I said, you know, I you think for me, it doesn't even phase me. Um I'm not phased, I'm not freaking out. I'm like, okay, it'll be all right. We're gonna figure it out, we're gonna get up on the stage and we're gonna worship, and it's gonna be completely fine. They were like, Yeah, the devil should know who he's messing with. Like, God's got this. Yeah. Not concerned. God's got it. I it's not me, I can't do anything to fix the catastrophe half the time.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

No, and I've been on stage with you a handful of times when the catastrophes have happened, and we just kind of look at each other like, well, it's like one of my favorite sayings from this video. If I've not showed it to you, I will show it to you after this. But basically, she's like, if God don't do it, it won't get done. And uh, we've looked at each other and and had that look, like we it was an unspoken look. Like, if God doesn't show up, it's just not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Literally, if if we're here to worship him, and that's just what we're gonna do. Like, everything may not work, but we're gonna worship the Lord. That's all right.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

And even with the power going out, power going out.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

We've had a lot of things that have happened. And I know one time uh, you know, it was probably the probably the worst time I ever had it was uh um, I'm not gonna say what happened, but basically it was a disaster. What was happening was a complete like disaster, and everyone was freaking out, and we had like 15 seconds on the clock. I looked at the clock, I looked over at the our um pianist, and I said, Okay, I turned around, he said, and I saw it in your face, you were like, Let's go. Like, are you we're we're doing this? And that's what I did. I turned around and it was one of the best sets we've probably ever had, and it was such a weight lifted. But in that moment, everybody didn't know, and everyone was looking at me.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

That's always how it goes.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

What are we gonna do? And I'm like, let's go. Like, let's let's do what we need to do, which is worship.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Right. And I will never forget that that time that we that the power went out, we sang through the blood. And I remember in that moment, the the line that says it's never been about performance or perfection or striving for acceptance hit so much deeper when you're in a big church, big-sized church that usually functions on electricity and and you know, and electric instruments and things and microphones, and you have nothing.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

The only acoustic instrument I was holding.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Correct. And it's a small acoustic instrument, it's tiny. And and but then you sing that line, and it's probably one of the best worship experiences I've ever had, where everything just went haywire. That is a moment where it's just like wasn't nothing we could do. We couldn't make the power come back on, we couldn't make um the service go the way that it was supposed to, quote unquote, go. But God took care of it, and people still came out of that um experiencing him, and we got something out of it, you know? And he did that, not us. Right. And you you deny yourself those experiences whenever you think that it's all about you and what you can handle instead of it being all about God and what he can do, even in the midst of a deficit.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Yeah, even in your weakness, something that you're you maybe don't think you do well at, something that maybe he's called you to, he'll call you to things, and you'll feel underqualified. I'm not qualified to do this. This is why what is wrong with me? Why do they select me? Why did I get this? And God'll show out. He will. And it's no different than yes, you're gonna have moments where there are things you absolutely cannot handle. But you can with God. Right. But you can with God. I'm one of 13 children. People used to ask my mom, how did you handle all those kids? And her answer was always, took the Lord. The Lord. And we all made it out alive. That's all I know. That's all I know. We're still tricking, you know what I mean? Um, but yeah, it's just um don't take that out of context because this life is not easy. No, no. Um, but with God it's easier.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

With God it's doable. Yes. Without him, I don't know, Chief.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

I don't know how people do it. I honestly don't like when I think about it, I'm like, dang, how did you figure that out?

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Exactly. So anyway, read the Bible in context. Don't let anybody give you something taken out of context and test everything that you hear from someone who is claiming to bring you the word, including us.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Yes. Test it. Yes, please do.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Make sure it's in there. Um, because ultimately God is the one who speaks and he's the one who teaches, and he's the one with the power and the authority, and he's the one who you need to hear. So anyone from your pastor to anybody you listen to on YouTube, test everything they say and make sure you're getting what the word actually says.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

And I'm gonna end on this. There will be things that you will walk through that are growing you. So, yes, God let that happen for a reason. It will grow you and it's gonna, it's gonna shape you your character.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

It's very important that we have good character in a lot of the things that happen shape our character.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Absolutely. Absolutely. I think that's good. That's all I gotta say.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

That's it. Until next time. See y'all.