God Won't Give You More Than You Can Handle? 1 Corinthians 10:13--Twisters series

            Clichés—these familiar phrases can serve as either conversation fodder or conversation stoppers.  We often find ourselves using them as conversation stoppers when someone is describing a painful situation to us and we just don’t know what to say.  And so, we simply fall back on a familiar cliché.

            I had a professor in seminary who used to call these phrases “counseling grenades,” because we use these phrases kind of like we use grenades in war—we throw them out there, and then run away as fast as we can! “Oh—you say you just lost your job, your spouse, your dog, and your favor tee shirt?  Well, you know, God works all things together for good! Hey—look at the time! I’ve got to get going. I really hope that all works out for you.”

            One phrase that we may use like that at times is the very common phrase, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” I think a lot of people believe that phrase actually comes straight from the Bible, but in reality, you won’t find that precise phrase anywhere. Rather, this phrase appears to be an interpretation of 1 Corinthians 10:13, which 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 he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

The Common Interpretation

            That verse seems to be the origin of this common phrase, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” This phrase is kind of tricky to assess, because you could understand it in a couple of different ways.  Mostly, it suffers from being unclear and incomplete.

            There is one way of understanding this phrase that I think we can rule out right off the bat. It is the notion that when you don’t believe in yourself, God believes in you. He knows how strong you are and so he put certain challenges on your plate rather than someone else’s.  At worst, this idea can reduce God to being little more than a cheerleader or a kind of personal trainer who pushes you just to remind you that you’re good enough, you’re strong enough, and people like you!  As we’ll see, that’s really not God’s intent when he lets us face challenging times.

            Now, this phrase “God won’t give you more than you can handle” can be interpreted in other ways that are much closer to being correct.  The truthfulness of this statement really depends on what you think it means to “handle” a situation.  Does it mean that you can live through something without ever feeling overwhelmed by it?  Does it mean that you can live through a hard time and maintain your composure throughout it, so that no one will ever see you cry?  Does it mean you can make it through a difficulty without ever asking for help?

What’s the Danger?

            These questions help us see one of the dangers of this unclear interpretation of 1 Corinthians 10:13.

1. Feeling unnecessary shame or guilt

            If you deal with a hard time and in your opinion you’re not “handling it” well, you can end up dealing with some unnecessary shame or guilt.  You might think, “What’s wrong with me?  I’m supposed to be able to handle this, but I’m still feeling sad longer than I thought I would.”

            An awful lot rides on what you think it means to “handle” a situation well.  Our culture doesn’t do us any favors, because we have a practically irrational fear of grief and sadness.  We treat almost any little period of the blues as if it’s something to be ashamed of, or even something to be medicated.  Those of us within northern European ancestry come from a heritage that discourages us from showing emotions publicly.

            In a moment, we’ll get a more Biblical view of what it means to “handle” something well—especially in light of 1 Corinthians 10:13—so that hopefully we can avoid the danger of this misunderstanding.

2. Casting doubt on God’s goodness

            Some people have suggested that we should just declare this common cliché to be absolutely untrue.  They might say, “You know what?  God actually will give you more than you can handle!” I don’t want us to rush to embrace that phrase either, because it could give us the wrong impression about God.

            We’ve probably all encountered people in authority in our lives who like to make life miserable for others just to remind people who’s in charge.  They might ask us to do virtually impossible things just to break our spirits a little bit and “keep us in check.”

            But God is not like that.  He absolutely does not act with a desire to simply keep us beaten down and under his heel. Oh, he certainly does have reasons for letting us face difficult trials, but those reasons are born out of love and good will, not some twisted desire to just assert his authority over us.

So what’s the correct interpretation of 1 Corinthians 10:13? Let’s turn our attention to that passage now.

The Correct Interpretation

            In 1 Corinthians 10, the Apostle Paul warned the Corinthians not to be overconfident when it comes to facing temptation.  They must not underestimate the power of temptation to trip them up.  To prove his point, Paul reminds them of the history of the children of Israel in the Old Testament.  They enjoyed some significant spiritual blessings, as Paul points out at the beginning of the chapter [READ vv. 1-4; the idea that they were “baptized into Moses” is simply the idea that they became unified—or one in spirit—with him as their trusted leader].

            Yet despite all of these spiritual blessings, the people were frequently disobedient to the Lord [READ vv. 5-11].  This history is important for us to remember, because I know I’ve thought to myself many times, “Man!  If I had seen all those things that the children of Israel saw, I don’t think I would have ever sinned!”

            But the power of temptation is strong indeed, so Paul issues this warning in verse 12: “therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” We must not be overconfident in the face a temptation because it is a formidable foe.

            Yet at the same time, we need not fear temptation as if we had no hope whatsoever of overcoming it.  It is a mighty enemy, but it is not almighty.  Notice verse 13 [READ v. 13].

            There are really two distinct claim in this verse that are both meant to encourage us.  The first is this—the temptations that we face are simply the same temptations faced by people all around us.  You will never face a temptation that is completely brand-new.  You see, Satan is the original recycler!  His bag of tricks is powerful, but it’s limited, so as time goes by, he just has to reissue the same temptations in shiny new packaging.

            This thought should encourage us because it means that any temptation we face has been successfully resisted by other people at some time in some place.  Above all, scripture tells us that Jesus “in every respect has been tempted as we are,” yet he never gave in and committed sin.  He is now the very one to whom we can turn to find help in our times of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).

            The second claim in 1 Corinthians 10:13 is that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability.  That’s not because we have some kind of amazing power or ability of our own, but because God will provide for us a way of escape, as it says here.  God will not put us in a situation where the only option we have is to sin. 

            By relying on his grace, we can actually say “no” to temptation anytime it confronts us.  We may feel like temptation has us completely surrounded, but that’s not literally true—God has given us the power to say no through his Holy Spirit, and for many temptations, his word tells us precisely what to do rather than give into sin.

            So here is the sense in which I think we can truly say that God won’t give us more than we can handle.  If I may restate that idea in a slightly different way, I would say God will give us the grace to remain faithful to Him through anything that comes our way.

            God may allow us to face circumstances that leave us physically drained or emotionally depleted, but when you feel that way please don’t think that you haven’t “handled” this situation.  It is no sin to feel beaten up by life!  The promise we have from God is that even in those times, he will give us the grace to remain faithful to him.  We must simply lean on that grace rather than our own strength or wisdom.

So how have we come to the point of having this misunderstanding of 1 Corinthians 10:13?

Interpretive Error—Failing to let Scripture interpret Scripture

            One key component of good Bible study is allowing other passages of Scripture to shed light on the particular passage that you’re studying.  When you first began to study a passage, you want to look very carefully at that passage by itself.  You want to allow it to speak for itself as much as possible.

            But once you think you’ve arrived at the correct interpretation of that passage, the next step is to test your interpretation against other passages of Scripture. Since all scripture is given by God, it forms a unified body of truth. So, if you arrive at an interpretation that contradicts another passage of scripture, that conflict tells you that you better go back to the drawing board and try to gain a more accurate understanding of your passage.

            Just think of it like double-checking your work. When I went through high school, our math textbooks had the answers to certain exercises in the back of the book.  So when we completed those exercises, we could look at those answers to see if we had done it right.

            That’s the idea I’m talking about here when I say “let Scripture interpret Scripture.” When we let the rest of the Bible clarify for us what it might mean that “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” we get some important clarification.  If we have the idea that ”handling” a situation means that we’re not supposed to cry or we’re not supposed to ask for help or we’re not supposed to ask God hard questions, we haven’t gotten that idea from the Bible!

            In the Bible, we read about faithful servants of God experiencing the full range of human emotions—from the fullest joys to the deepest despair.  Over and over again in the psalms, we read the words of godly men who are asking tough, probing questions of God.  Yet through it all, we see them reach the same conclusion—I will not give up on God!  In their dark and difficult times, they have learned that God will not allow them to be tempted beyond their ability, but with the temptation he will provide the way of escape.

            You are never a failure if you continue to cling to God when your whole life seems turned upside down.  The Psalmist said it very well in Psalm 73:26—“my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”