Perry started a new series this week at NewSpring. In the message this week he talked about the lie that God will never give you more (or put more on you) than you can bear.
I have heard that all my life. I'm not sure I have ever used that phrase myself but I think I have believed it. But as Perry told us Sunday, that lie is to keep us from declaring our inability to cope or to deal with the situation and just fall on our face before God in desperation and need of HIM to intervene.
Perry talked about Jehoshaphat and Paul. Jehoshaphat was king of Judah. Things had been going pretty good for him when he received word that a vast army was marching against him. He gathered all the people to fast and pray and declared to God that he did not know what to do.
When God told him to march out against the enemy, Jehoshaphat put the singers, the worship leaders at the front of the army singing "Give thanks to the Lord, for His love endures forever."
For those who have given their lives to Jesus Christ, the battle is God's...the cancer is God's, the marriage is God's, the financial crush is God's, the wayward child is God's. He does not intend for us to fight our battles alone. He does expect us to worship Him, to trust Him, and to give the battle to Him; to declare our inability to face this "foe" without Him.
I have seen Christ followers who are almost ashamed to admit that they are having problems. They don't want anyone to know that they are struggling. Somehow facing a struggle with your child or your marriage or your money or your health means you don't have enough faith or maybe you're not really a Christian...all of which is another lie!
I know how hard it is to admit I can't handle something. When I closed my family's business, I went through a whole series of what ifs with God. As I think about them now, they were very self-centered what ifs. When I finally said I trust You, You do what is best, I was so overwhelmed with God's peace, with knowing that whatever happened it would be OK, I found giving up my income and my job with no prospects of any became one of the best times of my life.
That's all God wants from anyone when the times are uncertain, when times are hard...just to rely completely on Him!
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