Scripture: Jeremiah 1:1-8

Have you ever heard the phrase: “God won’t give you more than you can handle”?

Maybe you have repeated this phrase. Maybe you believe truly believe this phrase. It’s attractive because it says something about our capacity to withstand difficult circumstances.  It sounds like encouragement to those experiencing trial to say to them that the trial must not be so bad because God would not give it to them if it was.

There’s just one problem: This statement is a lie.

God routinely gives us more than we can handle. He does it with Jeremiah in our scripture. The conversation sounds like this:

God: “Jeremiah, go be my prophet.”

Jeremiah: “I can’t. I’m just a kid.”

God: “Do it anyway.”

The call of God is ALWAYS more than we can handle because, if we could handle it, we would start to think that we didn’t need God. And then, in the moments where it is actually LIFE giving us more than we can handle, we won’t know where to turn because we won’t know just how trustworthy God is.

God promises Jeremiah that He would be with and would rescue Jeremiah. He promises to do the same for us.

God is calling you to something that is more than you can handle, and it might just be so that He can demonstrate His love for you and His power that is at work on your behalf. That way, when life does the same, you will KNOW that it is God who will come to the rescue.

Do you trust more in your own capacity to handle difficult circumstances than you do in God?