How Much Can You Lift?

How much can you lift? God knows exactly how much you can bare and when he is there to lend you strength and do what you cannot do alone.

1 Corinthians 10:13

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How much can you lift? Ten pounds? Twenty five pounds? One hundred pounds? Maybe you don’t know the exact limit that you can lift, unless you workout in the gym regularly, but it is important to know how much you can lift.

God knows exactly how much you can bear. Through our life we often feel like the trials and struggles are a weight that we’re carrying pulling us down, especially with regards to the guilt of our failings. That can just be a tremendous burden to carry. How much can you bear?

God knows. And God promises that he will not give us more than we can bear. He said through the apostle Paul:

No testing has overtaken you except ordinary testing. But God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but when he tests you, he will also bring about the outcome that you are able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

God knows exactly how much you can lift and here he’s given us a specific promise that he won’t let anything touch us that we can’t bear. Now sometimes we can think that “oh that means that I’m strong enough to be able to carry this.” Sometimes that’s not the point.

Sometimes the point is that God gives us something that we can’t bear by ourselves so that we would be pushed to lean on him. This is especially true with the guilt of our sins. They are a burden that we can’t bear. It’s impossible for us to carry. So God Himself lent us his strength.

He came down from heaven and carried God’s law perfectly for us and he carried out guilt to the cross and successfully bore it in our place. Jesus has lifted the burden of our sins so that we don’t have to carry it. Through him our sins are forgiven. We can walk with Him to Heaven. And when life’s trials come and they weigh us down. God is there for us too. To pick them up, to strengthen us, and to provide the outcome that he desires.

May God be with you. Call upon him in the day of trouble and he will deliver you. Amen.

Timothy Hartwig
Timothy Hartwig

Tim Hartwig is currently serving as President of the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary.

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