Live Free with Josh Howerton - Yes, God Will Give You More Than You Can Handle | Ep. 350 | Friday, June 7, 2024

Episode Date: June 7, 2024

No one wants trials or problems; everyone wants comfort. Yet, how do we grow without these difficult seasons? Strength comes from dependence on God. His kindness will give you more than you can handle to move you to God-reliance. Let us trust Him with our suffering, knowing He will use it for our good. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Well, hey guys, welcome to the Daily Drive. If we haven't met, my name is Carlos, and I get to be a part of the pastoral team here at Lake Point,

and we get to hang out this week for a few minutes every day as we dive together into the Word of God. And today we're reading Romans chapter 5, verse 3 to 4. It says this, we can rejoice to when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our children.

our confident hope of salvation. When I was in high school, I was in the basketball team, and at that time, I remember some of my friends, in addition to playing the sports that they played, some of my friends started to try weightlifting. Now, I remember seeing my friends starting to lift heavy weights at my school gym, and I would see their faces in pain as they tried to lift something that was clearly too heavy

for them to lift. And I remember thinking, why would anybody want to do that? That does not look very fun. And then I would run into my friends and the following day, their legs would be shaking, their arms would feel weak, their muscles would be sore, they'd be limping in pain.

And I just, I couldn't wrap my mind around the idea of somebody actually enjoying this until I tried it. And yes, it was painful. Yes, the point was to lift more weight than my body could handle for my muscle tissue to break down. So that in due time I could develop endurance. And that endurance became physical strength. And that strength, ideally, becomes building of character.

Now, the Apostle Paul writes in Romans that this is what happens when you and I face trials and problems and experience the pressures and obstacles and challenges and difficult moments in our lives. And he says that when that happens, we should. rejoice because it is through these trials that we develop enduring strength, hope, and character. Now, we live in a culture that values comfort over character. And because that's true, instead of hearing what the Word of God says in John 1633 that Jesus said, I promise you will have afflictions, but I will overcome whatever afflictions you

might face and you will overcome with me. Instead of hearing that, we hear things like, God will not give you more than you can handle. Have you seen that shared maybe on social media? Or maybe somebody that you know trying to encourage you, said to you, hey, don't worry. God will not give you more than you can handle. Well, the Bible actually doesn't say that. This is one of those things where a well-meaning friend might share at some point

something like this to encourage somebody going through a difficult season. but it's simply not what we see in scripture. What the Bible actually teaches is God might actually let you have more than you can handle. So you have to depend on his strength like Job. God might actually let you have more than you can handle. So you have to depend on his sufficient grace like Paul. So you can depend on his power like Moses. In the midst of your sadness, God might actually let you have.

have more than you can handle so you can depend on the joy of the Lord as your strength like Nehemiah now let me go a bit deeper here for a second because this idea of god will not give you more than you can handle it has several hitting assumptions in it we we live in a culture that assumes that ease lack of suffering everything going well is normal and so when somebody gets sick or when you go through a trial or when you're experiencing suffering, we're surprised. We're like, what's going on? This is not how it's supposed to be.

But the Bible tells us we actually live in a Genesis 3 world, a world that was created by a good God, but that has been broken by sin. In other words, this isn't heaven yet. God is in the process of redeeming and rescuing his creation. And we're in the middle of history where Jesus at the cross was crowned king, but we're still waiting for him to come. come back and establish his kingdom fully and once and for all.

So because we live in a broken world, there's a sense in which pain and suffering is normal. And when things go well, when it's a good season, when we experience joy, laughter, rest, peace, pleasure, or anything that's good, it's actually all grace provided by a very good, generous, and holy God. In fact, our Western secular culture is the only civilization, in history where we see suffering as an interruption of our pursuit of happiness, our goals, and our dreams. So when we experience suffering and trials, we struggle to deal with it because we miss seeing

any redemptive purpose to it. Many people today debate whether God allows suffering or causes suffering. But the Bible is actually very clear and it states over and over that God always uses and redeem suffering and trials for the good of those he loves. My wife and I have a one and a half year old son at home, and I witness my wife experience moments of suffering, a varying degrees throughout her pregnancy, and especially at the time of giving birth.

But there was a purpose to that suffering that brought joy that I can't even describe with words. Throughout scripture, we see God allowing suffering in the lives of those he loves for the purpose of shaping us, building character, developing patience, endurance, molding our hearts to become more like the heart of Christ. I've heard it said that if your life belongs to Christ, if something is happening to you, then it's because God wants to do something in you and through you. And that your pain and suffering is either a jail that will imprison you or a school that will

shape you and you get to choose which one of those it will be. Christians throughout history, they've understood this really well. Helen Keller, who was a devout Christian, once said, Character cannot be developed and ease and quiet. Only through the experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved. Scottish evangelist Oswald Chambers said, God can never make us whine if we object to the fingers he uses to crush

with. Author Tim Keller said once, Jesus Christ did not suffer so that you would not suffer. Jesus suffered so that when you suffered, you would become like him. Let me put it this way. A life of comfort is not the ultimate goal for the Christian. Jesus is. Unlike popular opinion, and God cares more about your sanctification than your comfort. Now, when we go through pressures and trials, Paul says in Romans that it should create a confident hope of salvation in us. And here's, let me just explain to you very briefly what that means. If you are a believer, it's okay to mourn. It's okay to ask God why.

It's okay to suffer and experience sorrow. But it's not okay for you to do all those things without hope. The Bible doesn't say God won't give you more than you can handle. but it does say God will never give you more than he can handle. Check this out. When you look at scripture, Moses couldn't handle Pharaoh and getting the people out of Israel, but God did.

Joseph couldn't handle being sold as a slave by his own brothers, being falsely accused, thrown in prison, and have the capacity to forgive his brothers who made his life miserable, but God did. Young shepherd David couldn't handle, skilled military giant warrior Goliath but God did Mary couldn't handle giving birth to the son of God

while being a virgin but God did the disciples clearly couldn't feed 5,000 people but God did Lazarus couldn't handle coming back from the dead but God did Paul literally said in 2 Corinthians 1 8 he experienced more than he can handle as he preached the gospel to save people

and he couldn't take the pressure but God did. You and I most definitely can't handle saving ourselves from our own rebellious heart towards a holy, holy, holy, and just and glorious God. But Jesus did. When you feel that you can't take it anymore,

what an opportunity to invite the one who can. When you feel like you don't have this strength anymore, what an opportunity to surrender your life to your good shepherd and experience his grace and his power becoming perfect in your weakness. When you feel like your situation is hard or impossible even, what an opportunity to invite the one for whom nothing is impossible. When you feel like you've got nothing left to give and God is all you have, what an opportunity to realize God is all you need. today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services

on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.com. Church slash daily drive.