Trinity 9
Trinity 9
August 17, 2025
1 Corinthians 10:6-13
“God only gives you what you can handle…”
These are the words spoken from a mother to a child full of tears, having endured another day of bullying on the playground.
“God only gives you what you can handle…”
Spoke to the husband and father who has lost his job, now wondering how he will pay the bills and provide food, shelter, and clothing for his family.
“God only gives you what you can handle…”
Your children repeat the old saying once given to them as you now endure the trials of chemotherapy, the loss of hair, and the need to force yourself to eat.
“God only gives you what you can handle…”
Whispered into the ear of a mother who must bury her husband’s lifeless body into the earth as she looks to the children she now has to raise alone.
“God only gives you what you can handle…”
Maybe you rejoice in these words, perhaps they inspire you, or do they make you murmur and curse God under your breath?
“God only gives you what you can handle…”
Well-meaning words, often spoken out of care, maybe awkward silence, or simply because you’ve heard them so many times, they seem like the right thing to say.
But are they?
First, who is the focus of these words? God or you?
Honestly, it’s you, what you can do, what you can achieve, what you can endure, what you can handle.
But secondly, are these words truly from the voice of God?
No, they are not, but some do see them as an inspired manipulation of the last verse of our epistle today, as the Apostle Paul wrote,
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
What Paul says here is that life will have temptations. Everyone will experience temptations. There will even be temptations that you cannot bear. There will be temptations you cannot handle.
You can even see this in the beginning verses of our epistle today, how Israel was also tempted, faced hardships, and, like you, turned from God to depend upon themselves, and this self-dependence then led them into sin.
First, they complained and longed to return to the foods of their slavery in Egypt. Then they fell into idolatry and built for themselves the Golden Calf; God was no longer enough for them. Third, the temptation of sexual sin and fornication arose, sins against their own bodies, their own flesh. Finally, they tempted God, became impatient, quarreled, and spoke against Him, grumbling against their Redeemer and Savior.
You, too, are impatient, but do you even grumble or murmur under your breath against God anymore? Do you even open your lips to Him? Or have you fallen in love with these words, “God only gives you what you can handle…”
As one church father wrote,
Paul implies that there must be temptations [meaning difficulties and challenges] which we cannot bear. What are these? Well, all of them in effect. For the ability to bear them comes from God’s grace, which we obtain by asking for it. God gives us patience and brings us speedy deliverance. In this way, the temptation becomes bearable. (Chrysostom)
What can be lost during times of temptation and increasing difficulty—such as bullying, family conflicts, unemployment, illness, or death—is the importance of remembering how to ask God for His grace and mercy to face and endure these trials patiently, and to seek God’s help.
In a way, this should take us back to the fundamentals of the Christian faith and the prayer our Lord taught us to pray. In the Sixth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “Lead us not into temptation…”
Martin Luther wrote in the Large Catechism,
This, then, is what “lead us not into temptation” means. It refers to times when God gives us power and strength to resist the temptation [1 Corinthians 10:13]. However, the temptation is not taken away or removed. While we live in the flesh and have the devil around us, no one can escape his temptation and lures. It can only mean that we must endure trials—indeed, be engulfed in them [2 Timothy 2:3]. But we say this prayer so that we may not fall and be drowned in them.
One of the things the devil has always wanted since the first encounter with Adam and Eve in the Garden is for all humans, including you, to turn away from God and rely on themselves.
But the Lord’s Prayer teaches us to call out to our Father in heaven for our needs in this life: for the temptations that oppress us, for the afflictions of everyday life, and for the times we feel as if we’re drowning in sorrow.
We pray, “Lead us not into temptation…” so we would not be caught consenting to the voice of the Old Adam within us that says, “You can do it.” But instead, in this prayer, we say, “God, you do it.”
And so we pray…
You, Father, give me your mercy and grace to withstand the temptations and trials that overwhelm me in this life.
You, Father, give me the strength to turn the other cheek as bullies throw insults my way.
You, Father, give me rightful dependence on you to see how you provide for my family, our clothing and shoes, our shelter, and your promise to care for us.
You, Father, remind me with Your Word how Your Son, Jesus Christ, was born of our flesh in the Virgin Mary, endured the temptations of the devil in the wilderness, and allowed His body to suffer the torment and beatings of that first Good Friday.
You, Father, send Your Spirit upon me as I stand at the entrance of the grave, to guide me in seeing through my tears Your Son’s death on the cross and His resurrection on the third day. So that I may not lose focus, because Christ lives, so will this body in the ground be raised again in glory.
These are not merely kind words, my friends; they are the ways your Father in heaven already provides for you to withstand the tribulations and temptations of life today.
Turn to Him in your hour of need. Turn to Him when life is overwhelming. Turn to Him when you are in need of escape, seeing the peace which surpasses all understanding in His only Son, Jesus Christ.
He is with you. He is with you now. +INJ+
Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Tomah, WI
