Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

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.

• 1 Corinthians 10:13

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. 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.

• 2 Corinthians 1:8-9

“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker,
    those who are nothing but potsherds
    among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
    ‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,
    ‘The potter has no hands’?

• Isaiah 45:9

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

• Job 2:7-10

So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

• Isaiah 41:10

You are my hiding place;
    you will protect me from trouble
    and surround me with songs of deliverance.

• Psalm 32:7

“There’s no easy way to attach the word cancer to your world and not make all who love you cry.
“I kept thinking about that statement everyone loves to throw out in times like these: ‘God won’t give you more than you can handle.’ But that’s not actually in the Bible.
“God does say He won’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear and that He always provides a way out (I Corinthians 10:13). But that’s not the same as God not giving us more than we can handle.
“He sometimes will allow more and more and more. I knew this. And now I was sitting in a pink chair living it.
“And, as I type these words, I know I’m not the only one who feels they’ve been given more than they can handle. I see the wide-eyed expressions on people all the time. Grief upon grief. Hurt upon hurt. Heartbreak upon heartbreak. Addiction upon addiction. Diagnosis upon diagnosis. Disappointment upon disappointment. The world is filled with people who are dealt more than they can handle. And, surprisingly, the Bible is also filled with people who were given more than they could handle.
“God doesn’t expect us to handle this. He wants us to hand this over to Him.
“He doesn’t want us to rally more of our own strength. He wants us to rely solely on His strength.”

• Lysa TerKeurst, It’s Not Supposed to be this Way

Lysa TerKeurst is starting to shape where this is going.  Last week, we had to examine if our wishes and desires (or the way things are supposed to be) are within God’s Will.  Here we dig a little deeper into the methods and reasons for God allowing tests of faith.

I have heard it said like it was on every page of the Bible that God never gives you more than you can handle, but I have also been warned to pray about how you cannot handle what you have been given because God will show you how much you really can handle.

But as Lysa TerKeurst says here is that there are at least three problems with that.  It is not in the Bible.  God does not ladle on the troubles in our lives.  He allows Satan to do so.  And all this business of us handling anything is not at all what this is about.  It is about us saying, “God, I cannot handle this, but You can.”

I was my wife’s caregiver when she had End Stage kidney failure, an undiagnosed heart valve issue, shingles, pneumonia, and a mysterious gastrointestinal bleed that would drop her hemoglobin down into the danger range without notice.  And all of it at the same time.  We kept our eyes on Jesus and put one foot in front of the other.  If we knew that she only had weeks to live, she was too weak to make last visits to relatives or take that one last trip.  Besides, most of the things she knew that she had were fixable things and “maybe she would feel better if those things went away.”

But I experienced the grief of losing my wife to that undiagnosed valve issue.  And within a few weeks, I went to the doctor’s office.  They secretly suspected cancer, but six months later, the images that looked suspicious (and he said looked fine) came back clear.  Like my brother-in-law said, “They cleaned the lens on the camera, shrugged, and said, ‘Oops!’”  And the only thing that makes me not think that was that it was an ultrasound.  Then again, I have seen Don McMillan’s comedy routine where he suggests that there is only one pregnancy ultrasound.  Then he shows one.  Trust him!  They all look like this!  Well, comedy aside.  Mine, not of a baby growing, but a cyst, went from cloudy to clear.  But as Lysa TerKeurst says, “There’s no easy way to attach cancer to your world.”  Okay, maybe by saying that the doctor was wrong!!!!

And some days, I cannot go to sleep at night.  Some days I am so scattered in my thinking that I cannot write anything until mid-afternoon.  And sometimes, it feels like those who wish me harm are closing in on all sides.

But God is with me and within me.  I recognize the threats and God takes care of it or calms my nerves so that I simply do not worry about it.  When I fail to get enough sleep for maybe two nights in a row, I usually get plenty the next night.

When I forget the old saying of “God gives you no more than you can handle,” and I shift to “Please, God, handle this.”  Then I can refocus on writing, praying, studying for the next Sunday school lesson that I will teach, all without worrying about the monster looking over my shoulder, for God has that problem well in hand.

Lord, guide me. The world has more problems than whatever we might imagine.  But You know when I will breathe my last.  Until that point, I know You have every worry, trial, trouble of this world in Your capable hands.  And if I am to breathe my last, I will awaken in Heaven and You will be there to wipe away my tears.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.