Does God give us more than we can handle? When we can’t handle things on our own is when we understand our NEED for the Lord, and practically we turn to those around us, our community.
Twice, Peter is out fishing and Jesus does a miracle that requires others to come and help support the boat to contain all the fish – when we allow God to move in our lives, we see his provision many times, he gives us abundantly more than we ask, need, can handle on our own. This sounds a bit counter intuitive to what the world tells us; ‘we need to be independent and be able to do things for ourselves’, and we’re raised that way, too. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good for us when our parents raise us in a way that we don’t need them and rely on them for everything when we are adults in our 30’s, 40’s 70′ etc. But I know how much joy a parent feels when suddenly we ask for their help in something that we can do on our own because sometimes it’s not about the task getting done, but the relationship that’s being maintained in the ‘doing it together’.
Since I was a teenager I’ve been fiercely independent, from my family that is, and I know my relationship with them wasn’t how I would want it to be, but since needing each other a bit more, and being there for them to babysit or to help move house, our relationship feels stronger.
There was a time when I think I even tried to carry my faith a bit more independently from God, I made what I thought were more grown up choices, which I now realise we’re small comprises which led to more and more compromises to the point I didn’t recognise the person I had become and I wasn’t looking to God to guide me in any decision. If I’m honest, I knew that some of my compromises were sinful and I didn’t want to give up the freedom I thought I had. Then things started to go wrong and I didn’t know how to cope, so I just kept doing the things I thought were making me feel better, meanwhile the issues were still there, getting worse even. I was at a point that I noticed how distant I had become from Jesus, and I desperately wanted him… as well as the compromises. I started to believe the lies that I would never be good enough anyway; I need to look after myself, practice self love and I’ll be fine; God has too many religious rules – you’re free right where you are. But that’s all they were – lies. When I was finally at the point that I could practically see 2 roads and how each road might go:
1. Settle down, be comfortable and live a good life.
2. Jesus said “follow me”
I could imagine what kind of comfortable life I could have, maybe in the countryside somewhere. I had no idea what the other road could look like beyond seeing Jesus and the simple call to follow him. I chose Jesus, knowing that comfort is surely one thing I wouldn’t have anymore, and that was okay.
The day I made this choice, it felt like the chains around me, disguised as comfortable blankets, fell off and I was no longer bound by those lies – those pretty little lies. Doesn’t self love sound good? Self love makes us keep our eyes on ourselves ‘until we’re fixed/made whole’ – do you see the trap here? We are human. We will never be perfect, and even when we only want to fix one thing, when we’re so focused on ourselves, we can’t help but notice ‘what else’… and it goes on and on.
Jesus told the disciples “whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
Mark 8:34-35.
Jesus gave a new commandment to the disciples; ‘Love one another’. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another” John 13:34. We cannot love one another if we are so focused on ourselves with ‘self love’. Its time to get alongside our friend’s, our family, our community, and love each other – holding each other up when there are struggles, and always looking to Jesus with our friends and for our friends when their pain is too much to bear.
So when we think about how God leads us individually, continually calling us closer to him, and living with community – I think God does give us more than what we can handle. But take heart, this life is not our own, and we’re not meant to do it alone.
‘Brothers and sisters, if anyone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves or you may also be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.’ Galatians 6:1-2