Strength in Weakness

Something that we hear from time to time is this..."I don't know why I'm going through this but I know that God doesn't put anything on us that we can't handle."  Tell us...where does this idea come from?  It's not backed up by Scripture.  It is simply a product of our own wishes and imaginations.  Scripture says this...

1 Corinthians 10:13

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man:

but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able;

but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

It says that He won't put a TEMPTATION on you that you can't handle.  The Word says nothing about other circumstances!!  Actually, in the light of the entirety of the Word of God, we see the Father routinely allowing or purposefully putting His children in a situation that is beyond their ability.

Look at Noah and his ark...he was an old man when he got that assignment.  Not only did he have to build the ark but he also had to wrangle all those animals.  All of this was beyond his ability.

Look at Abraham and his promise to be a father of many nations.  God called him out of Ur with no place to go.  And then the promise of a son came when He was an old man!  It was beyond his ability to accomplish on his own.  And when he tried it on his own, he ended up with Ishmael.

Look at Moses and the Exodus.  A murderer called to lead the people of God out of bondage.  Unable to speak in public and fearful of the Pharaoh.  Even the people of Israel didn't trust him.  His ability to lead Israel was beyond his ability.

Look at Esther and her audience before the King.  She had the weight of the destiny of all Israel riding on her ability to please the king of Babylon.  It was beyond her own female powers of persuasion.

Look at Jesus and his task of taking the sin of the world to the cross.  He was entrusted with this task but He was still human.  Humanly speaking, it was beyond His ability. 

We could keep going...David, Joseph, Mary, Stephen, and Paul.  All of these and more were, in one way or another, served up a set of circumstances that were too big for them to deal with.  The odds against them were stacked.  The situations they faced were too large and the outcome completely unsure.  Yet they didn't back down from the task at hand.

The truth is that God expects us to be caught in situations beyond our control and abilities for the purpose of making us rely on Him to get us through.  If we are able to deal with it, then the situation is not bad enough yet.  Your inadequacies are meant to push you toward God and His perfect strength.

2 Corinthians 12:9

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee:

for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities,

that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

As long as you can function in your own strength, His strength in you CANNOT be made perfect.  His desire is to show His strength through you and your frailty.  It is, at the same time, both frightening and humbling to know that we are unable to accomplish what needs to happen.

We are not saying that your marriage is struggling because God made it happen.  What we are saying is this: the Father has the ability to take the ugliest and most horrific of circumstances and cause your life to flourish in the midst of it.

What you are walking through you CANNOT handle!  It's time to lean on the Christ and allow Him to deal with it!

Josh and Serena