Well,
welcome again to another podcast of Struggling Well. And if you've been with us for any of our podcasts, you know that Suzi and I love to center things on the word of God because it's the one thing that we believe is absolute truth that but in doing that sometimes we realize that sometimes people say that the word of God says something that you can't find anywhere in the word of God
and this is one of those occasions where you can people say well this is in God's word well no it's not in God's word and I know where they I think take and say something that really isn't what God said
right and we're talking about when people say, "God will not give you more than you can handle."
And that's great. That sounds so good. And but it's not scriptural. And where it comes from is a misinterpretation of 1 Corinthians 10:13. Do you want to read that, babe?
Yeah. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation will also provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure it.
And that's where that slogan, God will not give you more than you can handle, comes from a misinterpretation. And you know, it's kind of sad because I think, oh, God, wait, I can't handle this. But what he's saying, well, babe, you give the context because I think that's really
Well, I mean, the context and as Paul writes this is he it's a warning against idolatry to God's people. and he says in verse six, these things took place as examples for us. but we will not desire evil as our forefathers did. And then in verse 11, he says, "Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction." So, so he's wanting people in the day and age that he lived, and I think you'd bring it forward to our day and age, not to want to give up on God and God's ability to handle things in their lives.
That if you can hear the sloshing of water, that would be our 85pb dog drinking. That is not me drinking a glass of water. That's our dog. sweet does. we want God to act a certain way. And so when difficulties come and we think we can't handle it, that's when we want God to step in and say, "Oh, I'm not going to make you handle anything you can't handle." But the truth of it is that passage says he's faithful and he won't let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but when you're tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. And the truth is We all face hardships and some of the difficulties can be seemingly unbearable and we can't handle them on our own. And that is the truth. And temptation I this is just a thought that's popping in my head right now. I wonder if temptation comes this is just a wonder. If when we're under a lot of stress that we're tempted then to do to relieve that pain in some way. and so that temptation to relieve our pain not always the way God wants us to relieve our pain, but instead of going to him, we fall into some temptation because even for a brief moment, if it'll give us a sense of relief. but if we belong to Christ, then God will not allow any difficulty to come our way that we are incapable of bearing. Here it comes in the power of Christ. That's the essential point.
Yeah. And it's and again, it's that temptation that crosses over when we give into that temptation that crosses over to sinful behavior which basically doesn't have to mean it's a bad thing other than we think we can handle it and we don't need God and so then that becomes our idol that it's our ability to handle things
when the truth of the matter is he's the one who we need to lean into to handle those difficult situations.
you with every temptation there is a there's a test or every test we face, we have to know that God promises that he's going to be faithful to us regardless. He doesn't go anywhere when I'm tempted with my own agenda or tempted with sin. he doesn't leave the building and say, "Well, I'm going to leave this to you. You can handle it." No, he says he makes a way for us. The trick is do I take his way,
right? So that my ability to endure, as it says there, is really found in his faithfulness, not my faithfulness or lack thereof. and so I need to see and understand that everything I need to handle the temptations that come my way are found in him. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan, he leaned into what the father had said was true and what the father provided. And it wasn't on his own that he handled it. It was in the power and strength of the spirit of God who lived within him.
Yeah. And as a creation of gods, he has designed me in such a way that and I think I read it for last week's that we always need him. He designed us to always need him. So when I'm in that place of a situation that seems unbearable and often times leads me to be tempted to take care of it by myself, he says there is a way. way out and the way out is him, not anything else. And we Oh my gosh, we try so hard to make everything else be the thing that will take us away from that hard place.
Yeah. Yeah. And so what we hope and pray for you this week is if you're in the midst of those situations that feel unbearable that rather than simply trying to handle it yourself that you lean into the power of the spirit of God who lives within you, the power of Christ who is your savior and sustainer, and the father who has everything under his control.
And the only way that you can do that is by spending time with him. You've got to get in the word and see what he says. See what the word says about who God is and what he promises. And you've got to spend time in conversation with him, which is prayer.
Yeah. So, we hope and pray that will be the your story this week, no matter what you face. Have a great week. Thanks for joining us. To learn more about the Struggling Well podcast, visit tandemspirituality. com.