Ah, It's Okay! God Won't Put on You More Than You Can Bear!

"Ah, it's okay! God won't put on you more than you can bear!" Have you ever been told something like that? Ever told someone else? Have you ever gone through difficult times in your life, only to have some caring soul tell you, "You know, God won't put on you any more than you can bear"?

Well, guess what? They were WRONG!

During one of my recent journal writings, I was reflecting on what it must mean to truly understand and deal with life's burdens. What we need to do in order to hold up under the weight of burdens that wear us down. I'm sure you've heard it said, had someone say it to you, or maybe you've said it to someone else: "It'll be okay! God won't put on you more than you can bear!" Right? Well, so had I. I have heard it said, had it said to me, and have repeated it to others several times throughout my life. For that matter, if you were brought up in a church background, who could honestly say they hadn't heard it? It's one of those scriptures that's been passed down through the ages, from one family congregation to the next generation of believers. That's what I thought; you have heard it, haven't you?

So I journaled this "known" statement within the context of my writings that day, striving to understand its meaning better. All the while trying to make sense of how to assist fellow believers in knowing how better to believe it.

Upon my completion of the day's writing, my husband Steve did a quick proofread, writing down his comments regarding grammar, punctuation changes and such, along with "Check for Biblical accuracy" written right next to "God won't put on you any more than you can bear."

"WHAT? Check Biblical accuracy? What do you mean, Biblical accuracy? Why, of course it's accurate!" was my response the minute I read his absurd comment.

Have you ever had the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up when someone asked if you know what you're talking about? If your answer is yes, then you understand just what I was feeling when I read Steve's comment that day.

May I preface the following feelings with all the love in the world for this wonderful man of mine, as I inwardly proclaimed, "Of all the nerve! What does he mean, is it accurate?", wondering if he had forgotten to whom he was asking this question. Had he forgotten how much I have learned along this life of mine? Did he think I would misquote solid, profound scriptures after all these years? How ridiculous to even think it.

So once I worked through the emotional roller coaster ride of "do you or don't you know what you're talking about," and of course, after the hair resumed its natural position on the back of my neck, I came down off of my self-proclaimed righteous pedestal to find a teeny weenie seed of doubt gnawing at my heart. Could I be wrong? Could I have heard it wrong? Seen it wrong? Is it even in the Bible? Where is it?

Now, if I had just recently read it or heard it for the first time, I could at least claim an advancing senior moment at this point in my life. But this was not something new! It wasn't something I had just read! It wasn't something I had just heard! For heaven's sake, I had grown up with this solid piece of God-given knowledge. If I was wrong, and myself almost fifty years old (yes, I'm a woman, and I just told you how old I am!), I wouldn't be able to blame it on my youthful misconception of scripture interpretation gone wrong!

I had always understood that there would be a certain level of life's burdens which I would need to handle myself. You know, that stern-sounding voice inside your head that whispers, "Get a grip, girl! You need to muster up enough courage, pull your bootstraps up, and handle it yourself! Why, you aren't supposed to bother God with all your troubles. He has enough major troubles from everybody else to deal with, so grow up and deal with it!"

There have been many times I think I've come really close to handling difficult situations when all of a sudden, out of the blue, it's as if hell's furnace doors swing wide open, intense billowing fire comes spewing out, scorching the living daylights out of me, leaving me in a black sooty mess. It's then that I go running to my God's throne room, trailed by the foul-smelling stench of the enemy's laughter behind me, hot on my heels.

So here I sat with my journal in front of me, with that comment staring me in the face. Breathing a long sigh and taking a big deep breath, I turned on the computer, pointed my browser to my online Bible link, and began the search for validation of my claim of knowing the scriptures... at least confirmation of knowing some of them by heart. I entered the phrase "more than you can bear" into the search tool, changed the search to match any words, and clicked enter. I then read the following:

No results found. No results were found for "More than you can bear" in the version(s): New International Version. Try refining your search using the form above.

WHOA! What? What do you mean, "NO RESULTS FOUND"?

Then I tried typing in "more than you," and it found the following:

"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." 1 Corinthians 10:13

I was beginning to get really anxious. "I must be typing it wrong," I thought to myself. But no, I knew I had read it, heard it, and said it so many times, over and over, throughout my life! "God will not put on you more than you can bear." So why on earth would this electronic online Bible tool NOT be able to find this scripture for me?

Boy, was I getting frustrated. Feeling really beat down and downright weary, a heavy burden of despair came upon me as I was forced to admit my lack of knowing the scriptures the way I thought I knew them. I surely thought I knew them by now.

What was that? Weary? Hey, that was it! I then remembered that there was a scripture somewhere in the Bible that dealt with being weary and burdened. Maybe that was the line before this ever-important scripture I was having one heck of a time finding today!

So I typed "weary and burdened" in the search bar, and this incredible online Bible tool wasted no time finding the following scripture:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

"Are you tired? Worn out? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me... watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message)

It was Pastor Steve (also my husband) who helped me understand what a yoke is, and its intended purpose. A yoke is made of wood and looks sort of like an upside-down double horseshoe, in which two animals (oxen, mules, or horses) have their heads and necks placed. It is used to direct and control those in the yoke, and it distributes the work being done between those yoked together. The master holds the reins connected to the yoke and therefore directs the course and the work. However, if there is no work to be accomplished, then there is no need for a yoke, and it is taken off of the animals and stored for another time, another work.

"Okay, but what about our burdens?" you ask. How do we handle those? How does the yoke analogy apply to us?

"Cast your burden on the Lord..." Psalm 55:22

In other words, our ability to cast means that we must take action. Oswald Chambers, author of "My Utmost for His Highest," said, "You have been bearing it all, but you need to deliberately place one end on God's shoulder. Commit to God whatever burden He has placed on you. Don't just cast it aside, but put it over onto Him and place yourself there with it. You will see that your burden is lightened by the sense of companionship. But you should never try to separate yourself from the burden."

In the recent remake of the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still," Earth is scheduled for destruction due to the human race's perceived inability to change or care about the other species on the planet. In one particular scene, a wise old professor pleads with the alien sent to evaluate Earth's condition to stop the inevitable and give humans another chance to change. The professor's defense is, "Without trials we don't learn anything. No one changes until they're right on the edge, on the precipice." We could take this movie script and change the line "right on the edge" to read "in the valley," and it sure drives the point home even more, doesn't it? It reminds me of the Apostle Peter wanting to build permanent tent homes for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah on the mount of transfiguration. He didn't want to leave the mountaintop experience! I have to admit, in all honesty, if it had been me up there, I would have had the tents up, meal prepared, and rung the come-and-get-it dinner bell... all without even thinking to ask permission first!

So what I think all this means is: without a burden, a load to bear (in other words, "in the valley" versus "mountaintop experiences"), there would be no need for a yoke.

Oh, how I still experience that fresh sense of total amazement every time God reveals His truth to me! Sometimes it's His loving correction while studying His Word. Other times, it's through the nurturing love of my sweet husband, Steve. Sometimes it's conversations with fellow believers. And yes, even occasionally within the storyline of some fiction movie. No matter through which method His truth is revealed, when we are shown what God really did say, it oftentimes brings us to the realization that truth isn't always what we've grown accustomed to remembering.

We have the tendency to just remember pieces and parts of the scriptures in order to get us through. You know, at those times when we feel the need or desire to repeat to ourselves or others what we read once, or heard once, that can comfort or calm us in the current situation. The problem is, the more often I open His Word, the more He reiterates to me why it is so important to read anew. To open the Bible and read the lines again. To really see what He said. Not just trusting my memory to recall it correctly each time.

Now, I'm not negating the value of memorizing scripture verses. I believe there is good reason, and plenty of personal testimony, to the fact that accurately knowing sections of God's Word gets you through difficult times, and is a gift when someone needs to hear a word of encouragement. And scripturally, His Word says to speak it early in the morning, talk about it during the day, and at night before you go to sleep: clear Old Testament guidance on how to remember what God said. He also said, "I will write it on the hearts of my people."

So why do you think we have a tendency to mix up some of the scriptures, skewing the real meaning God intended? Could it be a lack of consistency on our part, or a lack of actually reading the Bible on a regular basis? Could it be that we easily fall into the belief that we can recall and quote any and all needed lines whenever we need them?

Have you ever played the game where you whisper a story into the ear of the person sitting to your right, then they whisper it to the one on their right, repeating the story until the last person has heard it, at which time everyone is asked to write down what they were told? Sometimes the stories read aloud match the one whispered, but most times they are nowhere near the same.

So what causes something like this to happen? Is it the interpretation that trips us up? Is it in the transfer of data, the difference between what someone hears and what someone reads? Could it be that we have a tendency to hear only portions of what we should be hearing? Maybe as we are listening, we finish the sentence in our mind with something like, "Yeah, yeah, I know how that one goes," not really focusing on reading it again or hearing it correctly one more time? Maybe it's the enemy who finds a clever point of entry where he can skew the words we read and hear?

Could this mean that our ability to truly understand what God wants us to read or hear can only be found when we are completely focused on Him and regularly reading His Word?

Once again I am reminded that I have a choice in all of this. I could choose to rely simply on that which I've heard before, sort-of-read, or half listened to, all the while skimming along this journey of life. Or I can begin to understand what it really means to walk in the garden in the cool of the day with a risen Savior: intentionally placing myself in His yoke, allowing my loving God to take the lead, following His moves, His steps, and learning His ways. The latter choice sure seems to me to be full of light and life. So...

I will believe Him when He says, "Come to Me," and I will choose to go to Him.

I will stop trying to handle things by myself, knowing I have a Savior who wants to take the lead in my life, and I will choose to give Him the reins.

I will heed His calling for rest, and I will choose to place myself inside His yoke.

"The everlasting God... neither faints nor is weary." Isaiah 40:28

I don't know about you, but I'm not wasting any more time trying to handle life's burdens all by myself. I have a loving Savior who is willing to bear and haul the load alongside me, in the yoke, together. And even when the load and burden seem unbearable, I will remember that He who has overcome the world is on the other end of that yoke, and everything may be more than I can bear, but NOT more than He can! In all these times I will NO LONGER try to pull up my own bootstraps. Instead, I think I'll slip on my sandals!

But wait! On second thought, I am definitely going barefoot!

Additional writings

During one of my times of devotion, as I was reviewing the scripture verse found in Isaiah 9:6, I felt led by His soft whisper: "Start reading at the beginning of the chapter." So I began reading Isaiah 9, "A New Day Is Coming," and there it was. Verse 4: "You have taken away their heavy load." And verse 5: every boot that marched in battle has been thrown into the fire.

Is it mere coincidence that "boot" is found in verse 5? Or that verse 4 speaks of the heavy load being taken away? My friend, there is no way this is coincidence!

His Spirit encouraged me to read this particular scripture on April 16, 2009. Did you catch that? Three months and two days after writing this lesson!

Oh, make no mistake, dear sisters, of what a loving God we serve! He is alive! He wants to be in relationship with us! He already knows all the burdens that we have yet to encounter in this life, and He still says, "Come to Me!" He's been saying it all along, ever since the beginning of time, and He still says it to each of us even now...

"Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest!"

Thank you, Father! Thank you, Jesus! Amen and amen!

Joanna Mikel writings, January 10, 2009