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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 ESV
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD.”
- Hosea 1:2 ESV
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- Romans 5:6-8 ESV

“God will not give you more than you can handle” is quite possibly the most common misquotation of a Bible verse to date. As you can observe, the actual verse is above, speaking of temptation, not tribulation. But this misquotation raises an interesting point about the nature of God, the purpose of our Lord Jesus Christ, and God’s relationship to His creation.
Firstly, the expectation that God will not give you something out of your hands flies vehemently in the face of the entire narrative of the Bible. Moses was no orator, nor was David a warrior. Quite frankly, they were anything but. While it is a nice thought that God would never give us a challenge we cannot face, it would duly reject the story of the Bible; that is, the Bible is 66 books of God giving men and women more than they can handle—and never once does He say “I want you to do this because I know you’re qualified.” God is the qualifier. He says, “Do this, for I will be with you.”
God does not choose the qualified; he qualifies the chosen.
So, where does this leave us? The passage of Hosea above paints it in a metaphorical context for us. In this portrayal, we see where we stand with God—we see the truth of our situation. It is in this picture that we are shown our own iniquity, for we have spat in the face of One who has done naught but love us. And it is here that we find the true beauty of our Lord, that, in the words of Saint Paul, He would die for us anyway.  Because God is with us, not because we can do it on our own, but rather because He knows we cannot. The Bible doesn’t tell us stories of strong, qualified men and women who aided God with their own abilities, but rather tales of a very broken world that needs, more than ever, the help of a loving Father. So be thankful always—thankful not that we are not given what we can’t handle, but instead that we have a God who is there for us when we cannot.
To Him be the power, the glory, and the kingdom forever.
So be it and let it be.
Amen.