More Than You Can Handle

Over the last several weeks, well-meaning people have told me to remember "God won't give you more than you can handle!"  After contemplating Scripture and the events of my own life, this phrase is really now a "soap box" issue for me.  God always gives us more than we can handle ... for a reason or purpose.  Allow me to illustrate from the pages of Scripture.

Consider Genesis 6-9 with the events of Noah and the flood.  The days of Noah were extremely wicked but Scripture tells us that Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with god (Genesis 6:9).  We are also told that God viewed Noah as a righteous man, Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation (Genesis 7:1). Noah was told to build an ark, a mighty sailing vessel, built to God's specific design.  This was a monumental task considering the location and the environment.  It took many years for Noah to complete this undertaking.  Without the assistance of his friends and neighbors, in the midst of assumed mocking and taunting, Noah in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.  By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith (Hebrews 11:7).  By giving Noah more than he could handle, God demonstrated His mercy and grace in saving Noah and his entire family.

Consider Genesis 22 with the events of Abraham and the sacrificing of Isaac.  Isaac was the son of promise, the covenant son, through whom the family of Abraham would become numerous and would one day bless all the nations. (cf. Genesis 15; 17).  As the events of chapter 22 unfold, we are told that God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" ... "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you (22:1-2). Abraham waited 100 years for the birth of Isaac.  Now, God wanted Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to Him as a test of faith.  The name Isaac means laughter.  The birth of this lad brought great joy and laughter to the senior citizen couple Abraham and Sarah.  Now after roughly 13 to 15 years of joy, God tests Abraham's faith. Again, humanly speaking this was more than Abraham could handle.  But Abraham considered that God was able even to raise him [Isaac] from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back (Hebrews 11:17). By giving Abraham more than he could handle, God demonstrated His great love which develops faith in His child(ren).  God designs our lives in such a way that our faith increases and we respond by giving our best, our greatest love and worship to Him alone.

Before anyone says it's all Old Testament people, times have changed, let's consider some New Testament examples. First there is John the Beloved, one of "the sons of thunder".  John along with Peter and his brother James were the "act first, think second" type of individuals.  Yet through the course of his life, John mellowed in personality, not intensity.  As a result of his stand for Christ, the elder statesman of the church was sentenced to exile on the Isle of Patmos.  The disciple was an old man at the time of his exile (mid-80's to early 90's).  He was exiled to face the harsh forces of nature.  However, by allowing John to experience more than he could humanly handle, God inspired him to write the Book of Revelation detailing Christ's final victory and describing the Christians final home.

Consider Paul in 2 Corinthians 12.  Paul was afflicted with a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.  The apostle prayed three times to God that this messenger should be removed.  The implication is that this affliction was more than Paul could humanly handle.  Yet notice God's response and Paul's submission.  The Lord said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore Paul says, "I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).  Paul says, "I am strong when things are more than I can handle because that is when God's grace is the most on display in my life and I can then handle whatever is sent my way."

Our God is the God of the impossible.  He gives more grace when the burdens of life grow insurmountable.  He sustains when there is no light visible at the end of the tunnel.  He redeems, He saves those who were once dead in sin and gives them new life, eternal life.  The next time someone says to you, "God won't give you more than you can handle!" remind them that God ALWAYS gives us way more than we can handle so that He alone is on display ... His greatness, His love, His grace, His mercy.  Great is His faithfulness!

Who Arrested Whom?

In his commentary on the Gospel of John, R. Kent Hughes posses the question, Who Arrested Whom in the garden. Many people view the garden as a dark and depressing episode in the life of Christ ... the night and location of His betrayal and arrest. Yet, who arrested whom in the graden?

The events of the entire evening were orchestrated by the Lord Himself ... even the location was under His control. The first eleven verses of John 18, while setting the stage for Christ's trials, gives us a glimpse at Jesus' absolute Lordship. He controlled the location of the event. Jesus could have broken with tradition and secluded Himself away with the eleven remaining disciples. Yet He chose to go to His regular garden of solitude. He went to a place that Judas had visited upon many occasions. Jesus did not run from His arrest ... He embraced it. R. C. Sproul writes, "Jesus was not seeking to avoid arrest. It almost seems that He went out of His way to be apprehended." If He embraced His circumstance and situation for the glory of God ... if He exercised control over the meeting ... can we not trust Christ to control our circumstances, situations, and surroundings for the glory of God as well? Our circumstances and situations are not random things that "just happen to us by chance" ... they are orchestrated by the hand of God to refine us and make us more like Christ. Christ has the power to arrest our circumstances.

In addition, to "arresting" His surroundings, Christ arrested the crowd who came to capture Him. Jesus did not shrink into the shadows to escape from His would-be capters. He stepped forward and took the initiative in the encounter. He asked who the crowd was looking for and quickly identified Himself as that man. Throughout John's Gospel account, one encounters the I AM statements of Christ ... I am the bread of life ... I am the light of the world ... I am the way, the truth, and the life ... etc. Each time, Jesus used the name of God given to Moses during his burning bush encouter ... I AM WHO I AM. The sacred name of God ... the name which identifies Him as the One True God. Whenever Jesus identified Himself using that name He claimed to be the One and Only Son of God ... He claimed to be deity incarnate. It is that phrase Jesus used in response to the crowd ... I AM He! When Jesus clearly identified Himself, the crowd drew back and fell to the ground. They had been arrested by the Lord.

The arrest of Christ was not against His will ... earlier that night in the garden Jesus had stated His resolve to accomplish, to complete the Father's plan of redemption. Jesus went with the crowd willingly to carry out the divine plan of salvation established from eternity past. Christ willingly went with the crowd to be tried, crucified, and buried in order to rise from the dead conquering sin and death. He did so to arrest the hearts of everyone who would one day be drawn to Christ by the Father for eternal life. In the garden Christ willingly went with the crowd so that He would drink the cup that the Father has given Him.

The arrest of Christ, the cup that the Father gave Him was the cup of judgment for our sins. It is the cup of God's wrath on sin that was absorbed by Christ on the cross when God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).