No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
1 Corinthians 10:13

Here is one of those passages that is frequently quoted by those who are sure it means what it does not mean! What does it not mean? It does not mean that “God will never give you more than you can handle.”

Of course the Lord leads me into and gives me more than I can handle. How do I know this is true? Read Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 2:8-10.

8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us...

Paul is clear that believers may be “burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we [may] despair even of life.”

Why? So that we “should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead…”

God doesn’t give us more or less depending on what we can handle. He gives us as much as it takes to show us how little we can handle so that we will put our trust in Him and not in ourselves.

We do not endure, as much as the Lord “will deliver.”