It is often said, “The Lord doesn’t give you more than you can handle.” The phrase is intended inspire a “Little Engine That Could” attitude of “I think I can.” The phrase is supposed to encourage someone to keep working through their troubles, and they’ll get through the difficulty eventually.

There are two problems with the phrase “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.” First, it’s not true. I mean, if we even simply consider it logically for a minute, the phrase doesn’t work. Because if God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, then what do we not need? God. The Lord does not say, “There’s no need to call on me with your trouble; you got this.” Instead, He says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you shall glorify me.”

A second problem with the phrase is that it can absolutely shipwreck someone’s faith. A Christian going through an excruciating time of suffering, knowing that he or she cannot handle what the Lord has given, could be led astray, thinking they’ve fallen from grace because they can’t handle what they’ve been told they should be able to handle as a Christian.

I’m sure all of you can think of times where the Lord has given you more than you can handle—whether it be health related, relationship, financial, or work related. This red thing I’m wearing is called a stole. Symbolically it’s a yoke hanging around my neck. It’s a burden I wear to remind me that, as I serve in the Office of the Holy Ministry, every single day the Lord gives me more than I can handle. He does the same in your life.

The Old Testament book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah, who is known as “the weeping prophet.” In first part of Lamentations chapter three Jeremiah says:

“I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; surely against me He turns His hand again and again the whole day long. He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked. He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow. He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver; I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, ‘My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.’ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.”

Jeremiah pictures God’s people, crying out to the Lord because the Babylonians decimated the land, kidnapped many of the Israelites, destroyed Jerusalem, and tore down the temple. They relied on false gods and foreign powers to be their saviors and protectors, but it didn’t work. Babylon ended the kingdom of Judah. Babylon unseated the king from the throne of David. The people of Israel were given way more than they can handle, as God’s chosen people were taken into exile and ruled by a foreign nation.

At the very end of the Old Testament Reading Jeremiah writes, “[The Lord] does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.” This means that Lord does afflict us. The Lord does grieve us. The Lord does give us more than we can handle. He just doesn’t do it willingly. He doesn’t get any kind of sick joy from seeing us grieve. He doesn’t take delight in afflicting us. God isn’t giddy to give us more than we can handle.

So, then why does the Lord do this? Why did He allow the Israelites to go into exile? Why does He allow His people to suffer affliction? Why does He give us more than we can handle?

The prophet Joel gives this answer: “Return to the Lord your God for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and He relents over disaster.” The Lord our God often seeks to give us more than we can handle to draw us to Himself. If we can handle everything, we have no need for the Lord—no need for His grace, mercy, and love; no need for His compassion, protection, and providence; no need for His peace, comfort, and joy; no need for His forgiveness, life, and salvation. But in reality, we are fully dependent on the Lord for everything in life just as a small child depends on father and mother. Sometimes, just as children need to be reminded of that by their parents, so we need to be reminded by our loving heavenly Father.

Therefore, Jeremiah reminds us—God’s children—that “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.” The Lord’s discipline, the hardships of life are a reminder from the Lord that our hope, our forgiveness, our life and salvation is found only in Him. For we can’t go it alone, but we have a God who has died for our sins. Christ Jesus reconciled us to the Father by His sacrifice. We have a resurrected God who promises to be with us always and to never leave us nor forsake us. We have a God who promises to deliver us in the day of trouble—ultimately delivering us from sin, death, the devil, and hell—by means of His blessed crucifixion and resurrection. We have a God who doesn’t want to see us fall away, and so He sets up roadblocks—He afflicts and grieves us as He must—to bring our eyes of faith back to focus on Christ Jesus.

When the Lord gives us more than we can handle, how ought we respond? Jeremiah says, “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” Trusting that the Lord loves us, cares for us, and knows what’s best for us, we commit ourselves to His Fatherly keeping. We listen to the Lord speak to us in His Word and we speak to Him in prayer. This sets us up not to become restless, but to wait quietly for the Lord who promises to deliver us. It is good for this to be learned early and often—in one’s youth. But it’s never too late for our minds and hearts to be transformed by the renewing of God’s Word, and it’s never too late to call upon the Lord in the day of trouble.

The Lord our God leads us into repentance described as sitting “alone in silence when [the yoke of suffering] is laid on him; let him put his mouth in the dust—there may yet be hope.” Indeed, there is hope because of the Lord’s great mercy and compassion. “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Knowing that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, we may endure any hardship. Jeremiah says, “let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.” Our heavenly Father even strengthens us to endure ridicule, scorn, and hardship for the sake of Christ and His Gospel.

Though we face affliction and suffering in this life, though we are yoked by more than we can handle, we are promised: “The Lord will not cast off forever, but, though He cause grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of steadfast love.”

You can be certain of this, because Christ endured unimaginable suffering, affliction, and grief for us. Isaiah 53 says that God the Father put His Son to grief when He suffered and died upon the cross for our sins, so that by His wounds we are healed. Then God raised Him from the dead. Christ endured the cross so that we may enjoy His glory.

The Lord often gives us more than we can handle so that our eyes are fixed on the glory of Jesus’ cross unto our eternal salvation. And the Lord delivers from all our trouble, sometimes in this life—certainly in the life to come. Amen.