Training Wheels

We have been taught God will never give us more than we can handle. You remember learning this as truth, right? Taught to us in effort to strengthen us, to give us hope. We rely on this as fact when times get tough. "Don't worry, God will never give you more than you can handle."

The past few months of my life have been a true testament to the strength of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says: "'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." Philippians 4:13 says: "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

God and I had a conversation the other day. I had reached my wit's end. I brought this frustration to Him in the most honest way I knew how. "Father, you have promised not to give me anything I can't handle. And I just want you to know, I can't handle this anymore. I realize how You've used this to change my life, to make me better. But can we use something else now? Can we be done with this?"

He answered my prayer.

But I don't think it had to do with anything except His love for me.

Later, remembering that prayer, I tried to look up the reference for what I thought was a Bible verse.

It doesn't exist. I was amazed. All of my life people have quoted that little phrase as if it came straight out of the Holy Bible. And I believed them. I just took it as truth, because so many people had told me so. But it's not there. I checked. The closest thing I found was a verse in 1 Corinthians, which says we will not be tempted beyond what we can bear. That, my friends, is a totally different subject.

So I started thinking and praying.

And during that time, I think God taught me something new. He has been whispering to me about trusting Him regardless of circumstances anyway. I can feel Him kick starting a lesson on witnessing. As in, making an example of our lives. Reaching out to others, bearing witness to His love.

Quietly, in a way only the Father can, He began to explain to my heart about how if He never gave us anything we couldn't handle, we would never fully understand how much we need Him. If our circumstances never exceeded our ability, we would drown in our own pride and competence. We would be able. And that's not the point at all.

So every once in a while, the Father will hand us something we have no idea what to do with. Or He will allow a situation to befall us. It will test and try us. (Not temptation. He has made that promise...) But we will be challenged. And very often, we will fall short. We will fail. We will reach and our arms will not be long enough.

He does not do this for His own entertainment. The Father doesn't like to see us fail. But He knows how we learn (He loves how we learn) and He knows what is required to get a lesson to stick. To get a truth to sink it, to grow roots. For real growth and genuine change to occur, He has to give us too much.

I watched as a dad ran down the street behind his son who had just learned to ride his bike without training wheels.

Had the father shied away from giving his son more than he could handle, the training wheels would have stayed on the bicycle. And the little boy would have never learned the freedom of riding. The son could handle the training wheels. We might even call it his comfort zone.

But one morning, either by the son's request or the dad's ambitious idea, the two went out to the garage and took the training wheels off the bicycle. It was not an instantaneous process, this learning to ride on just two wheels. I imagined what happened on their street, in their driveway, before the pair ever made it out to the street.

What has the Father handed you? Or what has the world just thrown at you? Does it feel like too much? Can you carry that weight? Are you caving under the pressure?

Go ahead. Admit it. You can't handle it.

Now ask Him for help.

Because that's the whole point of this lesson.

You aren't strong enough.

But your Father is.

And He will bend low and meet you, making up for what you lack.

Pushing you so you can ride without training wheels.

So you will grow to be more like Him.