Amos, an elderly church member, has a lot of problems he just can’t seem to get a handle on. He makes an appointment to talk to Pastor Paul. The appointment was for an hour, but after three hours of trying to find the right words and Bible passages to soothe and comfort Amos, Pastor Paul is at his wits end. In his last ditch effort to comfort Amos and wrap up this session, he says, “The Lord never gives us more than we can handle.” Amos looks at him without skipping a beat and says, “Well, I just wish the Lord didn’t trust me quite so much.”
God will never give you more than you can handle. Or does he? Joseph S. M. Scriven was born in St. Patrick, Ireland, now today known as Northern Ireland. He had grown up in a well-to-do family and had attended the best university in Ireland, Trinity College Dublin. After attending classes at Trinity College Dublin, he pursued a military career where he trained for service in India but had to abandon that ambition because of his poor health. He organized a private school in 1850 in Bradford and preached in the area. In 1855, he read the Bible to railway railway construction workers who were building the Grand Trunk Railroad across the Canadian West.
While living in Ireland at the age of 25, he fell in love and was soon to be married. However, the night before the wedding, his fiance tragically drowned in a lake. Heartbroken, Joseph decided to radically change the direction of his life. He moved to Canada, which was still largely an uninhabited frontier. While in Canada, Joseph fell in love again with another woman named Elsa. Elsa Katherine Roach. Once again, he was engaged to be married. However, shortly before the marriage, she got sick with pneumonia and died the winter before a wedding could take place.
Joseph, instead of becoming bitter, he devoted his time to tutoring, teaching, and preaching. He gave all his money, time, and even the clothes off his back to help the less fortunate. When Joseph was 35, he received word that his mother was very ill. Remember, Joseph in Canada, his mom’s in Ireland. In the 1830s, it took weeks to sail across the Atlantic Ocean, and the trip was very expensive. So, Joseph could not go to see his mother even though she was about to pass away. Instead, he wrote her a poem. Originally, it was titled Pray Without Ceasing. He wrote it to provide comfort to his mother.
In this poem, Joseph expresses how despite all trouble trials that happens to us in life, Jesus is a friend who helps us carry our burdens. Joseph was very private about all his writings. But years later, when he was bedridden and ill, a visiting friend noticed the poem scribbled on a piece of paper nearby. When asked who wrote it, Joseph replied, “The Lord and I did it between us.”
When James Sackville, his friend and fellow believer, found him ill, he brought him to his house. Joseph’s last days were filled with ill health and despondency. On a hot night in 1866, Joseph left his bed without disturbing anyone, probably to drink at a nearby stream. Some hours later, he was found dead in the spillway of Sackville’s Mill a few feet from the spring. A few days before Joseph’s death, Jack heard him say, “I wish the Lord would take me home.” It was never determined if Joseph’s death was accidental or a suicide. Now, I’m thinking, if he was such a good Christian, I’ll bet it was accidental. I doubt he would have committed suicide.
The lyrics of this poem tell us believers that we are friends with Jesus. We don’t have to carry our burdens alone. The poem emphasizes the importance of bringing everything to God in prayer. It remains one of the most widely translated and sung hymns in the world and it has been for over 160 years. It is What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Even though Joseph had periods of deep depression, his hope and joy in Jesus never left him. His faith through trials touched thousands. Not only those he had immediate contact with, but those who were touched by his sermons, teachings, and hymns.
I wonder if Joseph ever heard the saying, “God will never give you more than you can handle.” This phrase is probably the most repeated Christian saying in America. God will never give you more than you can handle. But it’s not in the Bible. The quote is said usually when somebody is going through the worst time of their life.
Well, here’s what the Bible actually says. We read it this morning. First 2 Corinthians 1:8 and 9. Paul says beyond our strength after he says part of it he says that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength. Paul was always given a lot more than he could handle and he was given it by God deliberately. In verse 9, he says that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. God’s point of crushing us beyond our capacity is that it drives us to God who has no limits.
The verse people are misquoting when they say God will give you more. God will not give you more than you can handle is from 1 Corinthians 10:13. The verse goes like this. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. And God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also that you will be able to endure it. But what these people don’t understand is this verse is specifically talking about temptation, not about suffering. God promises a way out of temptation.
God never promises life will stay within our ability to manage it. He promises something better. His presence in the middle of what is causing us to suffer. What breaks us beyond our own strength will drive us to God. He is there in all our suffering and he is there to help us carry our burdens. God does give us more than we think we can handle, but he’s there to see us through it. Just like Joseph, we have a friend in Jesus who will carry us through all our sorrows and burdens. We must remember to turn to Jesus in our deepest, darkest moments, and he will be our strength. Amen.
