God Does Not Overwhelm Us
I have been slowly working my way through Dr. Dan B. Allender's book The Healing Path. In his book, he discusses emotional pain and suffering and how God can work through that pain to bring us real healing in our souls.
In his chapter entitled "Ambivalence and the Loss of Love", Dr. Allender says: "If life is predictable, lacks complexity and ambiguity, and requires little of us, then we are bored. If life requires us to enter too deeply into the mystery and muck of life, then we feel overwhelmed." (pg. 101) As I thought about his comments and the truth about the circumstances of life, I was reminded that God never gives us more than we can handle.
Last evening, my neighbor and friend, a Christian woman, came to me to ask me to type her resume. Together we have prayed for some time that God would provide a job for her, and now she has been offered a job and simply needs to walk through the hoops of submitting a resume and having an interview. It was a real answer to prayer.
As we talked, she shared with me her struggles and her concern that she has no income other than her ex-husband's alimony check which is now 20 days late. She can't pay her power bills, she can't purchase her blood pressure medicine, and she has to rely on the meager $200 in food stamps that she receives once a month. She has been out of work for a long time and has no transportation. She could take her ex-husband to court, but it would cost her $680 just to pay the court costs. To her that is like a million dollars. My husband and I have helped her all that we can, and thankfully, her brother and son have looked after her. She said to me, "God is always on time. He's never late. So why is there no money for me to pay my rent and my power bill? I will have a job soon, but that won't help me if my power gets cut off in the meantime."
I didn't have a clear cut answer for my friend. I couldn't promise her that God would send her alimony check tomorrow, nor could I promise that her power would not be cut off. What I could promise her was that God never wastes our experiences. His faithful children have been through far worse, and He will never leave us or forsake us. God does not overwhelm His children, and He never gives us more than He will gives us grace to handle. We need merely to look to Him. God hears before we call, and answers before we ask. When the circumstances have played out, God will receive the glory, and we will know the joy of sharing in His love amidst the trials.
The familiar Psalm 23:4 says this, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me." God did not promise to deliver us from the valley of the shadow of death, that is, the trials and difficulties and sufferings of life. He did promise to be with us and to comfort us. In that lies our hope.
In his chapter entitled "Ambivalence and the Loss of Love", Dr. Allender says: "If life is predictable, lacks complexity and ambiguity, and requires little of us, then we are bored. If life requires us to enter too deeply into the mystery and muck of life, then we feel overwhelmed." (pg. 101) As I thought about his comments and the truth about the circumstances of life, I was reminded that God never gives us more than we can handle.
Last evening, my neighbor and friend, a Christian woman, came to me to ask me to type her resume. Together we have prayed for some time that God would provide a job for her, and now she has been offered a job and simply needs to walk through the hoops of submitting a resume and having an interview. It was a real answer to prayer.
As we talked, she shared with me her struggles and her concern that she has no income other than her ex-husband's alimony check which is now 20 days late. She can't pay her power bills, she can't purchase her blood pressure medicine, and she has to rely on the meager $200 in food stamps that she receives once a month. She has been out of work for a long time and has no transportation. She could take her ex-husband to court, but it would cost her $680 just to pay the court costs. To her that is like a million dollars. My husband and I have helped her all that we can, and thankfully, her brother and son have looked after her. She said to me, "God is always on time. He's never late. So why is there no money for me to pay my rent and my power bill? I will have a job soon, but that won't help me if my power gets cut off in the meantime."
I didn't have a clear cut answer for my friend. I couldn't promise her that God would send her alimony check tomorrow, nor could I promise that her power would not be cut off. What I could promise her was that God never wastes our experiences. His faithful children have been through far worse, and He will never leave us or forsake us. God does not overwhelm His children, and He never gives us more than He will gives us grace to handle. We need merely to look to Him. God hears before we call, and answers before we ask. When the circumstances have played out, God will receive the glory, and we will know the joy of sharing in His love amidst the trials.
The familiar Psalm 23:4 says this, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me." God did not promise to deliver us from the valley of the shadow of death, that is, the trials and difficulties and sufferings of life. He did promise to be with us and to comfort us. In that lies our hope.
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