More Than You Can Handle
After explaining how God comforts us in our affliction with the comfort of Christ so that we become instruments of His comfort, Paul says: “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself” (2 Corinthians 1:8).
I’m sure most of us are familiar with the phrase, "never let them see you sweat." I learned recently that this came from a 1984 Gillette deodorant commercial. Over the years, the phrase has become a principle of effective leadership. The idea is that, if you’re going to be an effective leader, you must always display courage and strength, especially under pressure.
Sadly, this idea that an effective leader should always exude confidence or should never let those under their leadership see them sweat, has been embraced by both pastors and parishioners. Keep in mind that one of the reasons that some in the church of Corinth questioned Paul’s apostolic authority was because he let people see him sweat. Moreover, he boasted in his weaknesses. Because many Pastors today have taken on this Corinthian mindset of an effective leader or believe the people in the pew think the same way, they suffer in silence. Ron Edmondson, who is a Pastor and leadership coach testified, “I have even had parishioners tell me they don’t want to know my weaknesses. They want to see me above temptation and failure. But, to portray that would be hypocrisy on my part.”
Although Paul was doubtless a courageous and confident leader, his courage and confidence didn’t come from self-reliance. Rather, the source of his courageous leadership came from recognizing how weak he was and in turn leaning hard on God’s sufficiency. He didn’t hide his weaknesses or his pain because he not only knew it would be hypocritical to do so, but because he wanted others to be clear about where his strength came from.
Exactly what type of affliction Paul suffered and did not want to hide from the Corinthians, we don’t know for sure. As you trace Paul’s missionary journey through Asia, there were a number of trials and persecutions that he faced (Acts 19:23; 1 Corinthians 15:32), not to mention the thorn in his flesh, which some believe to be some kind of physical malady (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
What we do know for sure, however, is that whatever the burden was, it was utterly beyond his own strength to endure or overcome. In fact, he said that the burden was so heavy—so paralyzing that he despaired of life itself. In verse 9, Paul goes on to write: “Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death” (2 Corinthians 1:9a). The crushing weight of the burden upon Paul was such that he felt death was imminent. Notice as he continues, the divine purpose Paul gives for the overwhelming trials he experienced: "But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9).
Remember, Paul didn’t accomplish great things for God because he thought that he had it all together. He accomplished great things for God when he recognized how helpless he was apart from the grace of God. God doesn’t use anyone mightily until they recognize how needy they are and cast themselves upon the sufficiency of Christ. Because of our tendency toward self-reliance, sometimes our greatest need is a need itself so that we learn to lean on Jesus.
Paul recognized his own tendency toward self-sufficiency and the obstacle it would be to experience God’s resurrection power in his life and ministry. He knew that sometimes a Christian’s greatest danger is not persecution, but prosperity. He knew that when things are going well, the human tendency is to forget God and rely on ourselves and our own resources.
So, knowing God’s sovereignty over suffering, man’s propensity toward self-reliance and God’s resurrection power, which comes when we reach the end of ourselves, Paul ran to God, not away from God in a time of great need. Paul ceased striving and began trusting.
Have you reached a place where you know that the only thing that can help is nothing less than God who raises the dead? Cry out to the Lord and say, “Lord, I need your help. I can't do this without You.” As Jim Cymbala observed, "I've discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weaknesses. He can't resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need Him."
Mitch Chase put it this way: “Trials come in all shapes and sizes, but they don’t come to show how much we can take or how we have it all together. Overwhelming suffering will come our way because we live in a broken world with broken people. And when it comes, let’s be clear ahead of time that we don’t have what it takes. God will give us more than we can handle—but not more than He can.”
Notice that in verse 9, when Paul speaks of God’s resurrection power, which comes when we reach the end of ourselves, he does so in the present tense. Concerning his overwhelming affliction, he wrote: “But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9). Knowing that his help came from God who raises the dead, Paul saw his great burden as a blessing in disguise. Anything that made him more desperate for God, anything that made Paul cry out to Him and say, “Lord, I need your help,” was a blessing.
The resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead is still at work today raising up the helpless who cry out to God from their pits of despair and unbearable circumstances. Paul continues in verse 10: “He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again” (2 Corinthians 1:10). Paul uses a form of the word deliver three times. First, he says, “He delivered us," which speaks of the past, then he says, “and he will deliver us,” which speaks of the near future, and then he concludes, “On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again,” which speaks of the ultimate future deliverance.
This repeated refrain of deliverance was a reminder to the Corinthians and to us today that when we share in the sufferings of Christ, we will also share in the deliverance of Christ. This is not just a future hope; it is a present reality. When we rely upon our God, He will deliver us from the burdens in our lives that are too much for us to bear.
Kent Hughes explained in his commentary: “The one thing that you can be sure of as a child of God is that he will deliver you in the midst of your affliction as you call upon him. There is no doubt about this. True, he will not deliver us from all death situations in the near future of this life, but he will ultimately do so because he raises the dead.”
It’s important to note also that Paul’s confidence and our confidence comes not only from recounting God’s past faithfulness, but from God’s present help which comes through the prayers of our fellow believers. Paul continues in verse 11: “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many” (2 Corinthians 1:11). Because Paul felt his neediness in view of God’s worthiness, he not only stayed dependent upon God, he looked to the divine help that comes through the prayers of the family of God. Paul would say to those who could point out all his weakness and short comings, “I agree with you, which is why you must help me by praying for me.” He was convinced, as we should be, that if the church did more praying than we do complaining, we would see a mighty move of God’s Spirit in and through the people of God.
Paul also connected his prayer request to a kingdom purpose. He writes, “so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many” (2 Corinthians 1:11b). The God-glorifying purpose of Paul’s plea for prayer was so that the blessing that was granted to Paul in answer to prayer would also lead to many giving thanks to God. The primary reason that God ordained to work in our lives in answer to prayer is because when He answers, He gets all the glory. And when God gets all the glory for the blessings that come through the prayers of many, the confidence of many will be strengthened to rely on God, not self, for what only God can do.
It’s important that we do not miss that the blessings Paul spoke of that came in answer to prayer and that leads to thanksgiving to God, were not hoarded blessings. In other words, they were not just blessings that make us more comfortable on earth for the sake of comfort. Rather, they were blessings of divine comfort, grace, and deliverance that came while suffering on mission for God and that make us channels of the blessings of God. The blessing being the resurrection power of Jesus at work in us and through us so that we can bring His eternal hope and comfort to a lost world.
O, may we live with a conviction from the Spirit that we must pray down the blessings of God for our church leaders and one another—blessings that will make us a blessing—that will enable us to bring the hope of the risen Christ to a fallen and hurting world.
In your service,
Pastor Marco
I’m sure most of us are familiar with the phrase, "never let them see you sweat." I learned recently that this came from a 1984 Gillette deodorant commercial. Over the years, the phrase has become a principle of effective leadership. The idea is that, if you’re going to be an effective leader, you must always display courage and strength, especially under pressure.
Sadly, this idea that an effective leader should always exude confidence or should never let those under their leadership see them sweat, has been embraced by both pastors and parishioners. Keep in mind that one of the reasons that some in the church of Corinth questioned Paul’s apostolic authority was because he let people see him sweat. Moreover, he boasted in his weaknesses. Because many Pastors today have taken on this Corinthian mindset of an effective leader or believe the people in the pew think the same way, they suffer in silence. Ron Edmondson, who is a Pastor and leadership coach testified, “I have even had parishioners tell me they don’t want to know my weaknesses. They want to see me above temptation and failure. But, to portray that would be hypocrisy on my part.”
Although Paul was doubtless a courageous and confident leader, his courage and confidence didn’t come from self-reliance. Rather, the source of his courageous leadership came from recognizing how weak he was and in turn leaning hard on God’s sufficiency. He didn’t hide his weaknesses or his pain because he not only knew it would be hypocritical to do so, but because he wanted others to be clear about where his strength came from.
Exactly what type of affliction Paul suffered and did not want to hide from the Corinthians, we don’t know for sure. As you trace Paul’s missionary journey through Asia, there were a number of trials and persecutions that he faced (Acts 19:23; 1 Corinthians 15:32), not to mention the thorn in his flesh, which some believe to be some kind of physical malady (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
What we do know for sure, however, is that whatever the burden was, it was utterly beyond his own strength to endure or overcome. In fact, he said that the burden was so heavy—so paralyzing that he despaired of life itself. In verse 9, Paul goes on to write: “Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death” (2 Corinthians 1:9a). The crushing weight of the burden upon Paul was such that he felt death was imminent. Notice as he continues, the divine purpose Paul gives for the overwhelming trials he experienced: "But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9).
Remember, Paul didn’t accomplish great things for God because he thought that he had it all together. He accomplished great things for God when he recognized how helpless he was apart from the grace of God. God doesn’t use anyone mightily until they recognize how needy they are and cast themselves upon the sufficiency of Christ. Because of our tendency toward self-reliance, sometimes our greatest need is a need itself so that we learn to lean on Jesus.
Paul recognized his own tendency toward self-sufficiency and the obstacle it would be to experience God’s resurrection power in his life and ministry. He knew that sometimes a Christian’s greatest danger is not persecution, but prosperity. He knew that when things are going well, the human tendency is to forget God and rely on ourselves and our own resources.
So, knowing God’s sovereignty over suffering, man’s propensity toward self-reliance and God’s resurrection power, which comes when we reach the end of ourselves, Paul ran to God, not away from God in a time of great need. Paul ceased striving and began trusting.
Have you reached a place where you know that the only thing that can help is nothing less than God who raises the dead? Cry out to the Lord and say, “Lord, I need your help. I can't do this without You.” As Jim Cymbala observed, "I've discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weaknesses. He can't resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need Him."
Mitch Chase put it this way: “Trials come in all shapes and sizes, but they don’t come to show how much we can take or how we have it all together. Overwhelming suffering will come our way because we live in a broken world with broken people. And when it comes, let’s be clear ahead of time that we don’t have what it takes. God will give us more than we can handle—but not more than He can.”
Notice that in verse 9, when Paul speaks of God’s resurrection power, which comes when we reach the end of ourselves, he does so in the present tense. Concerning his overwhelming affliction, he wrote: “But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9). Knowing that his help came from God who raises the dead, Paul saw his great burden as a blessing in disguise. Anything that made him more desperate for God, anything that made Paul cry out to Him and say, “Lord, I need your help,” was a blessing.
The resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead is still at work today raising up the helpless who cry out to God from their pits of despair and unbearable circumstances. Paul continues in verse 10: “He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again” (2 Corinthians 1:10). Paul uses a form of the word deliver three times. First, he says, “He delivered us," which speaks of the past, then he says, “and he will deliver us,” which speaks of the near future, and then he concludes, “On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again,” which speaks of the ultimate future deliverance.
This repeated refrain of deliverance was a reminder to the Corinthians and to us today that when we share in the sufferings of Christ, we will also share in the deliverance of Christ. This is not just a future hope; it is a present reality. When we rely upon our God, He will deliver us from the burdens in our lives that are too much for us to bear.
Kent Hughes explained in his commentary: “The one thing that you can be sure of as a child of God is that he will deliver you in the midst of your affliction as you call upon him. There is no doubt about this. True, he will not deliver us from all death situations in the near future of this life, but he will ultimately do so because he raises the dead.”
It’s important to note also that Paul’s confidence and our confidence comes not only from recounting God’s past faithfulness, but from God’s present help which comes through the prayers of our fellow believers. Paul continues in verse 11: “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many” (2 Corinthians 1:11). Because Paul felt his neediness in view of God’s worthiness, he not only stayed dependent upon God, he looked to the divine help that comes through the prayers of the family of God. Paul would say to those who could point out all his weakness and short comings, “I agree with you, which is why you must help me by praying for me.” He was convinced, as we should be, that if the church did more praying than we do complaining, we would see a mighty move of God’s Spirit in and through the people of God.
Paul also connected his prayer request to a kingdom purpose. He writes, “so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many” (2 Corinthians 1:11b). The God-glorifying purpose of Paul’s plea for prayer was so that the blessing that was granted to Paul in answer to prayer would also lead to many giving thanks to God. The primary reason that God ordained to work in our lives in answer to prayer is because when He answers, He gets all the glory. And when God gets all the glory for the blessings that come through the prayers of many, the confidence of many will be strengthened to rely on God, not self, for what only God can do.
It’s important that we do not miss that the blessings Paul spoke of that came in answer to prayer and that leads to thanksgiving to God, were not hoarded blessings. In other words, they were not just blessings that make us more comfortable on earth for the sake of comfort. Rather, they were blessings of divine comfort, grace, and deliverance that came while suffering on mission for God and that make us channels of the blessings of God. The blessing being the resurrection power of Jesus at work in us and through us so that we can bring His eternal hope and comfort to a lost world.
O, may we live with a conviction from the Spirit that we must pray down the blessings of God for our church leaders and one another—blessings that will make us a blessing—that will enable us to bring the hope of the risen Christ to a fallen and hurting world.
In your service,
Pastor Marco