When College Kid was younger, he's 22 now, I quickly learned that, with him, a "yes" was synonymous with "promise to." A "no" was synonymous with "promise not to." And "maybe" and "we'll see" were synonymous with "I promise on my life." His older sister had a much better command of the English language and understood "maybe" and "we'll see" were just that: gray areas where we would if we could and wouldn't if we couldn't.
College Kid is also the one that I still have to watch what I say and listen carefully when he "quotes" me because he rarely quotes me correctly. He "quotes" what he wants to hear. But I do love the Kid. Both of them; the one who fudges and the one who doesn't.
While God loves both the fudger and the non-fudger when it comes to His children, it's really not a good idea to make up God's Word as we go along. And it's really not a good idea to ascribe to God promises He didn't make. There's one promise, in particular, that I'm seeing over-and-over misquoted and because it's misquoted, there are people whose faith is hurting.
The promise that's circulating: God never gives us more than we can handle.
Please find that in the Bible. Anywhere. Any translation. It is not in there. God never, ever promises not to give us more than we can handle. Oh, He promises to be there in it with us and to walk with us through it, but He never promises not to give to us more than we can handle.
Here's the promise, as it really is, and it's 1 Corinthians 10: 12-13 " If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The
temptations in your life are no different from what others experience.
And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than
you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that
you can endure."
That's the promise. God will not allow us to be tempted more than we can handle. And He will provide a way of escape, but we have to take the escape and get out of the situation.
See the difference between the real promise and the promise as some people want to claim it is? There are lives that see tsunami on top of tornado after drought and famine. One thing after another; some, maybe many, cannot handle it. There are people who snap, they break. Prayerfully they find God during it or shortly afterwards. Even people with strong faith can break for a while before God puts them back together. God definitely uses stormy lives and seasons. The promise regarding "storms" is that we'll all have them. Experience bears this out. History testifies to it. So does reason.
While I'm sure there are other promises we can get wrong, and others we may interpret not as God intended, the promise mentioned above isn't one we misinterpret...it's one we can get flat out wrong.
When troubles pour on top of each other there are often, from what I've seen, two reactions based on this "promise". One is along the lines of "God must think I'm strong to give me all this." And, two, "They say 'God never gives us more than we can handle' and I've had enough. God, will You stop it now, please?"
Though the first reaction tends to give a semblance of hope, the other reaction can bring on despair. Neither reaction is based on a real promise.
The real promise, as it is, is awesome though! And I'm grateful for it!
And I'll be even more grateful when we get this right and check Scripture out for ourselves instead of accepting what other people say. Seriously. If you don't own a Bible, use the link above to several translations. Get to know the Word on your own.
And be grateful!
Wow! Thank you Rev. Carol Taylor for sharing your Godly insight on misquoted verses. I enjoyed reading your posting because it truly blessed my heart and inspires me to hunger for a closer walk with my Lord and Savior:) Thank you for sharing your God given talents with the world:) May God richly bless you and yours:)
ReplyDeleteSister in Christ,
Donna Piunt
Thanks, Donna. I'm not the only one to have this insight though. But if the Lord uses me to draw you closer to Him and more into His Word then hallelujah!
DeleteI love that you cleared that up, I'm 34, grew up in church, and it wasn't until a few years ago that I learned the true context of that promise. I also have melanoma, and that's something a lot of people have said to me, and it's hard to correct without sounding like Debbie Downer or something, especially since I truly do believe that God has given me the strength I need to go through all of this - He just didn't actually make that specific promise in the Bible!
ReplyDeletePS - I'd like to take this opportunity to let you know how much you've blessed me through your blog, I started reading it a couple of months ago, and I feel a little bonded with you because we're the same stage of melanoma, and I absolutely love your "attitude of gratitude" and just your spirit in general. Thank you for sharing your experiences :)
Thanks for connecting with me, Melissa! And thanks for your kind words. I'm sorry you're in this fight, but there's a growing melanoma community on Facebook if you'd like to connect with us. You can find me on Melanoma Prayer Center and get even more support from a community of believers who also fight this disease. Blessings!
DeleteThank you for this Carol, and I agree with you. However I have a question. Would a loving and caring Saviour give his child more than they could handle, and if so, why?. I respectfully ask this, I would never wish to argue with you.
ReplyDeleteVeronica, I don't consider you arguing with me. We bring a lot of stuff on our ourselves...God doesn't give us the consequences of sin, nor does He give us the consequences of our wrong choices. They are part of our world and God is at work seeing us through and redeeming, restoring, and transforming...though it may take time. PLUS, we can get caught up in other people's sins and misjudgements and things go wrong in our lives. It's awful when things happen all at the same time.
DeleteThink of the lives that addictions ruin. God doesn't do that. We do it. My brother is an alcoholic/crack addict in recovery. God didn't snort the crack or get my brother drunk. And all the family trouble and he jail times were consequences he and has family paid and still pay. He didn't take the way out that God provided for a long time. My brother kept doing things his way and it almost killed him. That wasn't God's doing.
God didn't give me melanoma. I messed up by getting sunburns and not understanding my family history. I'm paying the consequences, but so's my family. I didn't "sin" I don't think, but I did make grave misjudgements.
The car wreck I was in in 1999 wasn't my fault, but I'll pay for the other driver's making a lefthand turn when he couldn't see through his fogged over windshield for the rest of my life (RSD).
I could keep going but you know what I'm saying. We do things and blame God when things go wrong and say "it's God's plan." God's plan is for us to be close to Him and navigate life His way. We're the ones who get off track and make our own plans. And when we confess and are ready to do it God's way, He has a plan to get us back on track.
This post might help: http://letsgivethanks.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-melanoma-theology.html
Veronica- I think our loving God gives us more than we can handle without Him. He gives us enough manna or his grace for each day according to what we need. Each of us need a different amount for each day, like the Israelites in the desert. We can't horde for tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteCarol- love this post. Recognized this lie for awhile. I cling to 2 Corinthians 4:8-12 instead.
"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
One translation says "pressed but not crushed." I've had a LOT of pressure in my life since melanoma, but God has been faithful to not yet crush me!
Well put, Martha! There's a lot we'll never understand this side of Heaven and when we get there all our questions won't matter. I don't know if God "gives" or "allows," but I do know He can use anything to draw us to Himself and cause us to turn to Him. And there's nothing that is beyond His power to break, bless, redeem, restore, and transform. I think God allows a lot to help us grow our trust in Him and our need of Him.
DeleteThanks for going over this Carol. So many people get mad at God because of that saying, instead of realizing HE promised to be there with us not keep us from it.
ReplyDeleteAmen! Thanks, friend! Blessings.
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